Laws should be defined as primary offenses

The recent column by Greg Bean, "Here's Another Law That Motorists Will Just Ignore," hits a few good notes, but misses the real mark about how important safety legislation is for the driving public.

I authored the first township ordinance in New Jersey that banned the use of hand-held cell phones while driving a motor vehicle during my tenure as a Marlboro councilman in 2000.

During the public hearing for that ordinance, numerous people testified about tragedies that had occurred to loved ones as a result of people driving while using a cell phone, including a mother from Monroe Township who lost her teenage son in an accident with a cell phone driver.

While Marlboro's cell phone ban later became the forerunner of a New Jersey state law, Mr. Bean is quite right to lament the fact that it doesn't have the impact it should because state lawmakers chose to make it a secondary offense.

As a result, police officers can only cite drivers when they commit another offense like speeding or failing to stop at a stop sign, both primary offenses.

When I testified before a New Jersey state legislative committee to advocate passage of this law, I implored legislators to make this ban a primary offense.

Unfortunately, our lawmakers failed to give it the teeth it needed and it was enacted as a secondary offense, containing the same weakness as the law for failing to wear a seat belt.

Many people like Mr. Bean have made the argument that if we ban the use of cell phones while driving, other distractions should be banned as well like eating or combing your hair, and that the driving public will not accept these regulations.

However, this argument and comparison is flawed. Scientific evidence has proven that the use of hand-held cell phones while driving a motor vehicle increases the risk of an accident by four times, equivalent to driving while drunk, and this type of conduct should be distinguished from other types of distractions.

While the new bill to ban text-messaging while driving has been introduced as a primary offense, lawmakers need to go back to drawing board and make cell phone use and seat belt use primary offenses as well.

The fines for each violation are already $250, steep enough to discourage these types of dangerous behavior if only the laws could be enforced more vigorously. Safety legislation is that important.

Barry D. Denkensohn

Marlboro