There was a very credible and widely publicised university study (Ivy League, IIRC) a few years back that got a lot of media play, and as I recall, it stated that the relationship between cell phone usage and vehicle accidents, is higher than the relationship between alcohol usage and accidents. Everybody, almost universally, condemns the use of them while driving, yet nothing substantive gets done. I believe a major reason is that the telecom lobby in Washington is obviously against it, though this never gets mentioned.
Until they make the financial penalty rival multi-hundred-dollar speeding tickets, and even DUI's, there's just not the incentive for police agencies to devote the time and manpower to it.
Why chase down cars, and write a $50 ticket, when you can park in the shade under a bridge, zapping distant cars with a laser, and write $3-500 tickets ?
My town has recently gotten serious about it, but they're going after ALL distracted driving, to the point of idiocy. They recently had cops disguised as a road crew, near a popular Chick-Filet, and they were flagging cars to be pulled over if they saw the driver leave the parking lot eating a french fry !!! (as reported in local news).
Screw that !!! Bust the idiots palying with their stupid cell phones !! I've never been nearly run off the road, on my bike and car, by people eating
french fries.
