National Center for Public Policy Research Reacts to Ban on Use of Cell Phones While Driving

Washington, D.C. – The National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday that it is recommending that all states ban the use of cell phones and text-messaging devices while driving. Previously, the NTSB had recommended such bans only for novice drivers, school bus drivers and some commercial truckers.

The following statement from Horace Cooper, adjunct fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research and a legal commentator, may be used for attribution.

Yet again Washington, DC responds to the problems Americans face with heavy-handed solutions. Instead of solutions that are voluntary and rely on education and technology, Washington seeks out the hysterical approach of banning cell phone use outright — this is a solution whose time hasn’t come.

This solution is particularly inappropriate in light of the reality that there are any number of distractions that the typical driver faces when they get behind the wheel. Pretending it will be safer merely because we can’t use our phones anymore is absurd.

The National Center For Public Policy Research is a conservative, free-market non-profit think-tank established in 1982. It is supported by the voluntary gifts of over 100,000 individual recent supporters, receiving about one percent of its revenue from corporate sources. Contributions are welcome and greatly appreciated.

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The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.