DISTRACTED DRIVING

Policies against cell phone use rare

Scott King For the CDT

DuBois native Kristin Bowser, 28, was riding in a taxi Oct. 3 in Harrisburg when a driver who police say was texting and drunk struck the vehicle head-on. She died, as did the taxi driver, Michael Amissah, 34. Bowser’s husband, Christopher, 31, was seriously injured.

Bowser

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Police say Andrew Denezza, 30, was using his cell phone just before his vehicle crossed the center line on the Market Street Bridge and struck the taxi. He is charged with two counts of homicide by vehicle.

The element of cell phone use in the deaths of Bowser and Amissah added to growing evidence about the role the devices are playing in traffic accidents.

In an ongoing series “Driven to Distraction,” The New York Times cited, along with other research, a 2003 Harvard study estimating that cell phone distractions cause 2,600 traffic deaths every year and 330,000 accidents resulting in moderate or severe injuries.

Bowser studied at Lock Haven University before earning her master’s degree in social work from Temple University. She supervised a program that

helped mothers with addiction problems, the Patriot News said. Amissah, a father of four, was a native of Ghana.

Their deaths came just two days after President Barack Obama issued an executive order barring the almost 3 million federal employees from using their cell phones while driving a government- owned vehicle or on government business.

Obama said the mandate aims to “set an example for state and local governments, private employers and individual drivers.” And Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he will work to ban cell phone use by truck and bus drivers.

In light of the deaths and Obama’s directive, the Centre Daily Times asked major Centre County institutions and transportation firms about cell phone use policies for their employees.

Among the findings: Penn State has no policy for its 23,000 employees banning cell phone use while on university business, nor do some school districts and private transportation companies.

Other institutions, such as the Centre Area Transportation Authority, have implemented regulations on employee cell phone use while driving.

Six states and the District of Columbia ban the use of hand-held phones while driving. Eighteen states and the district ban texting while driving. Pennsylvania has no laws regarding cell phone use while driving, although Philadelphia recently imposed a ban on using cell phones while driving.

Local government

Centre County government’s personnel policy bans cell phone use only by employees driving county-owned vehicles, said Board of Commissioners Chairman Jon Eich.

Similarly, CATA has a “cell phone policy in place that prevents (drivers) from talking or texting while driving,” said Sherry Snyder, director of operations for CATA.

CATA’s board of directors, composed of representatives from five municipalities in the Centre Region, voted to establish the policy.

Buses are equipped with two-way radios and an automated vehicle locator system that dispatchers use to contact drivers by text on a dashboard console that drivers access only when stopped on the side of the road, Snyder said.

Penn State

Penn State has no personnel policy prohibiting its employees from using cell phones while driving on Penn State business. The university’s policy manual is at www.guru.psu.edu/policies, according to Penn State spokeswoman Jill Shockey. Also without a regulation is the Office of Physical Plant, the steward organization responsible for the upkeep of Penn State’s campuses, according to a policy last revised on June 3, 2002.

Local schools

Some school districts prohibit employees from using cell phones while driving, but others have no regulations.

There are no laws in Pennsylvania regarding cell phone use by bus drivers. Seventeen other states and the District of Columbia have banned bus drivers from using a cell phone while driving.

Bald Eagle Area School District drivers must carry a cell phone at all times, said John Gribble, business manager. “Any contracted school vehicle must have some kind of communication.”

Gribble said the communications are strictly for emergencies and keeping tabs on the students because some vans and buses don’t have radios.

Bald Eagle has no regulations that prohibit drivers from using their cell phones for non-emergencies while driving, but Gribble said they encourage drivers to “pull off to the side of the road to talk.”

In the State College Area School District, “there’s not anything in the regulations because it’s not a law yet,” said Van Swauger, director of transportation. He added that the district discourages cell phone use while driving.

Other school districts have adopted written policies barring their drivers from talking on the phone when behind the wheel.

“There is absolutely no texting while driving,” said Patti Hillard, transportation director at Bellefonte Area School District. Bellefonte Area has told its bus contracting companies that the “means of communication are to be used for emergency use only,” meaning bus radios, cell phones and other devices, she said.

Shelly Weaver, transportation operator for Penns Valley Area School District, said that talking on the phone while driving is prohibited, but cell phones are used to track students and for emergencies.

Penns Valley’s cell phone policy is an administrative regulation developed by the superintendent, Brian Griffith, and added to the transportation manual distributed to every vehicle driver in the district. Text messaging is “never addressed” in the regulations, Weaver said.

Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District referred questions about cell phone policy to Fullington Auto Bus Co., which has a contract to run the district’s school buses.

Transportation companies

Fullington said it is company policy not to use a cell phone or text while driving. This policy extends to the buses used by the Philipsburg- Osceola school district, said Loretta Wagner, of Fullington’s human resources department.

Some local taxi companies stressed safe driving but don’t prohibit talking or texting while driving.

Patrick Evans, owner of AA Taxi Inc., said, “I prefer drivers don’t use cell phones while driving,” but he stopped short of listing any regulations for his drivers.

Evans said his business uses Nextel radios for dis-patch- to-driver communication.

Likewise, taxi and cargo delivery company Handy Delivery Inc. has no written policy prohibiting its drivers from using cell phones while driving, though it “highly frowns upon it,” said dispatcher Erik “Wink” Winkler.

State legislation

Although Pennsylvania has no laws that prohibit talking on a cell phone or texting while driving, some lawmakers, including Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery, and Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, are pushing for them.

Conklin supports any legislation on the issue that would get to the floor for discussion, according to his chief of staff, Tor Michaels.

Conklin is “trying to get people to pay attention to the roadway,” said Michaels. “Texting while driving is a level of distraction that is absolutely unacceptable.”

However, Michaels said Pennsylvania’s budget battles have made it difficult for comprehensive legislation on distracted driving to get started. “The budget has dominated e-mail intake as of late,” he said.

Scott King is a journalism student at Penn State.