Good for him.
Driving while phoning is dangerous because it distracts a driver's attention from the road. Using a hands-free phone doesn't solve the problem. For the safety of county employees and others on the road, Corroon's policy makes sense.
If county employees want to make a call from their cars, they should pull over.
We realize that Corroon's call ban would only make a tiny blip in traffic safety in Salt Lake County, but it's still a good idea. Every little blip helps.
The way to really make a positive impression on drivers would be to make phoning while driving illegal. So far, however, few government leaders in Utah have been persuaded of the wisdom of that move.
They probably don't relish the prospect of angry phone calls from people who don't want to give up their cell phones while driving. That's understandable, but wrong.
Multi-tasking Americans are convinced that they are capable to doing several things at once. That seems to include phoning, putting on makeup and eating, all while driving a car.
But a growing body of research, including several studies at the University of Utah, shows that people are deluding themselves that phoning while driving is safe. It isn't.
By diverting a driver's attention, a cell-phone conversation causes what researchers call "inattention blindness." A person on the phone may look at an object on the road, but because the brain is otherwise engaged by a cell-phone conversation, the driver doesn't see the object.
One study found that you are four times more likely to be in an accident if you talk on a cell phone while driving. Another study, this one of drivers in Australia who had been admitted to emergency rooms after accidents, came to the same conclusion. Research at the U. decided that driving while phoning multiplies the risk of getting into an accident by about the same factor as having a blood-alcohol level at the legal limit.
Utah laws are tough on drunken driving, and rightly so. It is odd, though, that lawmakers ignore the phone hazard, which today may be more common. More policies like Mayor Corroon's would be a good beginning.
