Current laws can enforce 'driving while chatting'

Before he was a Kentucky state representative, Sal Santoro, R-Florence, was a state trooper, so he knows a little bit about police work and bad driving.

Santoro thinks Kentucky doesn't need a law to ban talking on hand-held cell phones. Such a measure has been filed by Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville. This type of law is alluring. We've all seen distracted drivers gabbing on the phone or read stories about bad accidents caused by cell phone use.

But this is government by anecdote, a practice that politicians love but often leads to bad policy.

Count me as just such a bad driver. I once rear-ended a motorcyclist as I reached down to pick up a ringing cell phone. Thankfully, we were moving very slowly to a stop sign and his injuries were minor. In the split second in which I took my eyes off the road, the cyclist had to stop for the car in front of him.

But that's Santoro's point. No new law was needed to ticket me. I could have been found guilty of inattentive driving or following too close.

"When I was a trooper, I would pull motorists over for reckless driving and find out they were putting on makeup or reading a road map," Santoro said in our story. "I didn't need a special law to charge them."

Burch's proposal only would give police more work. (And, to me, this is a different issue than the strong case for mandatory seat belts and motorcycle helmets.) They don't have time to enforce the laws we already have. For example, when was the last time you saw someone get a ticket for failing to use a turn signal, even when oncoming drivers could have no idea of the motorist's intention? Lack of enforcement breeds contempt, which is pretty obvious when you see the number of drivers who view the turn signal as a decorative stalk.