California’s new ban on using hand-held devices while driving takes only a baby step in the right direction. For a first infraction, the base fine is $20, less than a parking ticket in many towns. And the new law doesn’t prohibit such uses of digital devices as watching videos on dashboard-mounted smartphones. What message does that send about society’s attitude toward distracted driving?
In contrast, drunken driving is treated as a serious criminal offense, and carries a strong social stigma. Until we reach the point where the use of digital devices while driving is as unacceptable as drunken driving, new laws will not be tough enough, or taken seriously….
Jay A. Winsten, Associate Dean and Director of the Center for Health Communication at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Read the Letter to the Editor published January 17, 2017 in The New York Times regarding:
“Can a Law Stop Distracted Driving? California Hopes to Find Out”
Center for Health Communication
