Canada: British Columbia is holding a public consultation on a possible ban on mobile phone use in cars

[teleclick] British Columbia’s provincial government is asking for public input on a proposal to ban mobile phone use in cars.

The Ministry of Public Safety has published a “discussion paper” on the matter, concluding that “driver distraction” contributes to 25% of car accidents, and asking how this problem should be dealt with. By presenting such a generalized statistic, of course, the Ministry could rightly be accused of asking a leading question.

The reality is that all sorts of distractions, and poor judgment in general, contribute to car accidents. Rather than seeking to ban all distractions (a truly impossible task), legislators would be better to target actual dangerous driving, perhaps with a secondary cell phone law such as the one in Washington state.

BC Asks for Public Input on Banning Cell Phones While Driving
See also British Columbia government documents