Committee approves cell-phone driving ban

Drop that cell phone while driving, Philly - the city may be coming after you for talking or texting while behind the wheel.

City Councilman Bill Green's proposed ban on using handheld cell phones while driving cleared a committee yesterday and appears headed for approval from Council as early as next week.

Handheld use would also be outlawed for skateboarders, bicyclists, in-line skaters and scooter riders. Councilmen William K. Greenlee and Frank Rizzo cosponsored the bill.

The National Safety Council says drivers using cell phones are more than four times as likely to be involved in a traffic accident. Five states - New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, California and Washington - have handheld bans.

The bill would allow hands-free devices, though studies argue that drivers are distracted by talking on cell phones, period.

"It is the conversation that is the distraction," said Catherine Rossi, spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic.

AAA argues that handheld cellphones are just one of many distractions - among them eating while driving and pets in a vehicle - that should be addressed by comprehensive legislation.

No state has banned cell-phone conversations completely, though a number of states ban teenage drivers from all cell-phone use.

Green said he was aware that the dangers posed by cell phones were not limited to handheld devices, but he added that the city should start somewhere and monitor the incidence of accidents with hands-free devices.

"The point is, we are preventing some level of distraction," Green said. "It creates a safer environment, and we'll see how it goes."

Under the bill, first-time offenders would be fined $150. The fine for a second offense would be $300.

Councilman Frank DiCicco had investigated a similar ban, but was rebuffed by a city Law Department opinion that a local driving law would be overridden by state law, which doesn't address cell-phone use.

In a more recent opinion, issued in September, the Law Department left some wiggle room, saying that the city could pass laws to address "special conditions," which Green would define as the unique risk to pedestrians in the city.

Green said he had been assured that the city would enforce the law.

Police Lt. Francis Healy, special adviser to Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, said that regardless of whether state law would nullify the city law, it would still have a symbolic effect.

"Its passage can still send a strong message to Harrisburg that the time has come to legislatively address the issue of driving while talking or texting on a cell phone," Healy said.

State Rep. Josh Shapiro (D., Montgomery) has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would ban handheld use. Shapiro said any measure to make roads safer was a "good step."

"That being said, I do think there is a need for uniform standards," Shapiro said.

The bill should go to a vote on the House floor in the spring, Shapiro said, along with other distracted-driver initiatives such as banning all cell-phone use for teens. His bill would have specific language to preempt all local laws.

Shapiro's bill would not address bicycles, skateboards, in-line skates, or scooters, like Philadelphia. It's unclear whether a new city law could be applied to those areas should Shapiro's bill pass.

Testimony on the bill ranged from the personal to the professorial.

Rebecca Cunningham, 21, testified for the bill.

She told Council that on Sept. 16, 2007, she was driving from Fairmount to Roxborough - and texting to her friend at the same time - when she crossed two lanes and crashed into an utility pole. She sustained a broken wrist and required two surgeries to an ankle.

Stephen F. Gambescia, associate professor of health services administration at Drexel University, noted a 2008 study at Carnegie Mellon University that found that cell-phone-gabbing drivers made the same mistakes, and on the same scale, as intoxicated motorists.

"Let's not just wait for the carnage to build up" while waiting for more studies, Gambescia said.

Bill Arnold of Port Richmond, a self-employed insurance agent, said he was against the restrictions because his business depended on his ability to return phone calls promptly.

"This is not the best moment to be cutting commercial lines of communication," said Arnold.