Times finally says car phones should be turned off

The New York Times is on the bandwagon. Its Sunday edition contained an editorial calling for Congress to enact legislation outlawing using mobile communications while operating a motor vehicle. The editorial even made the same comparison I did a couple of days ago: "It brings to mind that row of tobacco company executives who swore to a Congressional subcommittee 15 years ago that their products were not addictive," the editorial said.

Here are two important paragraphs from the editorial:

"The reasons the cellphone industry representatives have given to block bans on phone use while driving sound straight out of the Thank You for Smoking playbook. One refrain was that the evidence was not settled, an assertion that continued as the industry itself was beginning to warn drivers about driving while phoning."

And:

"Congress has slowly begun to focus on this issue and proposals for bans are now circulating in both houses, some with support of the cellphone industry. None of them are terribly high on Washington’s agenda, however. It is time for Congress and the wireless phone industry to take highway safety a step beyond seat belts and air bags."

Welcome to the good fight, New York Times.