Handheld cell phone driving ban

WWLP TV

Updated: Jan 10, 2012 6:35 PM

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) — Several states like New York and Connecticut already ban handheld cell phone use while driving, and family members of crash victims want Massachusetts to ban it too.

“I'm the father of Jordan Cibly,  Jordan was killed on May 13 th , 2007, while talking on his cell phone,” said Jerry Cibley of Foxboro after testifying at the State House Tuesday in favor of a bill that bans handheld cell phone use while driving.  He says holding a cell phone distracts drivers from the road and results in accidents.

“You lose a child, there's just nothing like it, and I cry myself to sleep many a night.  If this legislation had been enforced my son would be alive today,” said Cibly.

Though Cibly says the bill has been sitting in the Legislature for about 10 years, interest for the bill among lawmakers is picking up.

“I haven't heard from anybody that's opposed to this, at least up to this point,” said the Legislature’s Transportation Committee Senate Chairman Thomas McGee (D-Lynn).

“I think I'd be surprised if there isn't support for it,” said Rep. Michael Finn (D-West Springfield). “It's a safety issue that everybody should be aware of.”

There are two schools of thought when it comes to limiting cell phone use.  One being that they should be banned outright because talking is a cognitive distraction, but others believe you can't stop yourself from thinking or talking with a cell phone or not, so hands-free cell phone use should be permitted, which this bill allows.

“I use a cell phone in my car, but I'm totally 100% hands-free,” said Cibly.  “I can dial hands-free, I can answer hands-free, I don’t have to take my hands off the wheel.”

When 22 News asked the chairmen of the Transportation Committee whether hands free cell phone use could be law by the fall, they said there’s time enough to get it done.

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