The accidental cell phone user

We were shocked and dismayed by CMAJ's recent call for regulation of cellular telephone use in cars.1 Good legislation addresses clearly identified problems, is based on scientific evidence and can be enforced. The legislation CMAJ has demanded would meet none of these criteria.

Your assumption that wireless phones cause traffic deaths and injuries was apparently based on a study that made no claim to prove the devices cause collisions.2 Moreover, the study had several shortcomings. First, the sample was small and biased: the study looked at 699 Toronto drivers, all of whom had a cell phone and had been in a collision without injuries. In contrast, a study released this year was based on a random survey of 36 000 drivers.3 Second, the data were from 1994–1995. Since then, the number of wireless telephone subscribers in Canada has quintupled, from 1.8 million at the end of 1994 to 9 million in March 2001, whereas the number of licensed drivers has increased by 10% and the number of vehicles by only 3%. Finally, the authors assumed that young urban professionals can be expected to have very low collision rates and very safe driving patterns. The opposite is true: young drivers have more collisions and tend to be more likely to take risks than older drivers.

A recent study found that distracted drivers accounted for about 9% of serious crashes.4 Of that number, 1.5% were using or dialing a cell phone at the time of the crash. In comparison, 11.4% were distracted by adjusting a radio, cassette or CD and almost 30% were distracted by an outside person, object or event.

Distractions can indeed be dangerous. However, laws against careless driving are already in place to prosecute drivers who do not make the driving task their top priority when using a wireless phone. For example, Ontario drivers who are caught driving carelessly while they are talking on cell phones, eating, reading or applying makeup are subject to a $325 fine and the loss of 6 demerit points. Similar penalties apply in jurisdictions across Canada.

Please don't compromise your journal's credibility by making frivolous demands for ill-conceived laws.