by John Biemer, Associated Press
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Interest in banning the use of hand-held cell phones by drivers in Maryland could be boosted by reports that a woman who died in an accident that killed five people was using a cell phone.
Delegate John S. Arnick, D-Baltimore County, has sponsored a bill to fine people up to $500 for talking on hand-held phones while they drive. For two years in a row, Arnick’s legislation has died in committee.
Arnick is trying again this year, and he’s hoping last week’s crash on Interstate 495 in Largo will help. He said many of his colleagues in the House of Delegates have approached him in the last few days to say they’ve changed their minds.
“It’s a tremendously dangerous situation that could cause great, great harm,” Arnick said Tuesday.
Dawn Richardson, 20, was driving her sport utility vehicle Friday on the Capital Beltway when she lost control of the vehicle and hurtled over a guardrail into oncoming traffic, landing on a minivan.
Richardson, of Arlington, Va., and four people in the minivan were killed.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board say Richardson was speaking on the phone as she followed her boyfriend to his parents’ house in Prince George’s County.
NTSB investigators set up protocols for considering cell phone use as a potential distraction after responding to a fatal crash a month ago in Illinois in which a man allegedly talking on a phone drove into the path of a truck and was killed.
Ted Lopatkiewicz, a spokesman for the NTSB, said the Largo case is the first since then that the agency is investigating where the use of a cell phone could have caused a collision.
The NTSB has a highway department which investigates scores of accidents a year, Lopatkiewicz said, though they usually involve larger vehicles such as buses or trucks. However, the agency also has areas it focuses on as potential safety hazards - such as cell phone use.
Arnick said constituents complain to him all the time about drivers swerving in and out of traffic and cutting people off while talking on cell phones.
But state police statistics do not indicate the phones commonly lead to accidents. Lt. Bud Frank, a state police spokesman, said cell phone usage is listed as the primary cause of accidents in Maryland in just one-tenth of 1 percent of accidents, according to new statistical surveys police have used since Oct. 1, 2001.
The most common cause, Frank said, is driver inattention, a broad category that ranges from putting on makeup to eating to being distracted by children.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association issued a statement following last week’s accident, calling it “truly tragic,” and stressing the “need for education on driver inattention.”
“The wireless industry reminds drivers that if they use their wireless phones while driving, to do so responsibly,” the Washington-based industry group said.
Last year, New York became the first state to pass legislation banning the use of hand-held phones while driving, imposing a fine of $100 on first-time offenders. The law took effect in November. More than a dozen local jurisdictions, including Miami, have passed similar measures.
Forty-three states considered cell phone legislation in 2001, from banning their use while driving to requiring drivers to use hands-free devices. The District of Columbia currently is considering a bill to ban the use of hand-held cell phones by drivers.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 73 percent of nation’s 120 million cell phone subscribers use their phones while driving.
The chairman of Maryland’s House Commerce and Government Affairs Committee, Delegate John Wood, D-St. Mary’s, called last Friday’s crash ``unfortunate,’' but declined comment on the bill until after its hearing next week before the committee.