Poll

Please log in to submit a poll.

Poll

Should eating while driving be banned?

OAK PARK, Ill. – An arborist who travels throughout the Chicago area, Phil Fitch is in his car much of the workday, which means his automobile is often his dining car.

Fitch was chagrined Wednesday to learn that Oak Park, the community where he had stopped at a fast-food eatery for lunch, was considering a comprehensive crackdown on distracted drivers, banning everything from using a hand-held cellphone to grooming to eating while driving.

“I put 20,000 miles on my car every year,” said Fitch, 29, of Chicago. “I don’t really get a lunch break. I have to eat in my car every day.”

He insisted his reaction time is perhaps better – even while enjoying a sandwich behind the wheel – than an older driver without distractions.

Research suggests distracted drivers are involved in 80 percent of collisions or near-crashes, and governments big and small increasingly are addressing the concern by restricting cellphone use and other negligent conduct behind the wheel.

Oak Park is the latest community to target the issue, joining a handful of other Chicago-area communities that have looked at prohibiting a variety of driving distractions, from tending to pets and eating to cellphone use.

The issue of distracted driving – especially what constitutes a distraction – continues to gain momentum nationally. In the last two years, for example, the number of states that ban texting while driving has more than tripled to 34, including Illinois. Ten states and the District of Columbia have outlawed hand-held cellphone use while driving.

And, six years ago, Chicago banned motorists from making cell calls without an earpiece and then added a prohibition on texting while driving. In 2009, the Chicago Transit Authority cracked down on bus and train operators who use or carry personal cellphones while working.

The campaign about the dangers

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/rOa-DH76-Po/