To the editor:
The Times' stand regarding the proposed cell phone law (editorial, Tuesday, Jan. 31) indicates that we don't need a law for something that is a matter of common sense.
It's common sense that you shouldn't drive too fast for the conditions of the road. It's common sense that you shouldn't drive under the influence. We've got laws and additional layers of punishment for violating both of those commonsense rules — principally because there are lots of people who lack common sense with sufficient frequency to worry society at large.
The police have not heavily enforced the ban on texting while driving in large part because it can be hard to tell the difference between texting and dialing. If we require hands-free use of cell phones, the picture changes. It's easy to tell that the driver is breaking one of the two laws, and pretty easy to issue a citation at that point.
Society at large is increasingly worried about people overly distracted by their phones, due to the safety concerns that the editorial itself pointed out.
A law requiring hands-free cell phone usage seems like a good compromise between an outright ban and what we currently have, which is a lot of accidents waiting to happen.
Eli Boling
Manchester
