As long as seven years ago, the federal National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration recommended that drivers not use cell phones, even with hands-free equipment, while on the road except in emergencies. But that recommendation was never made public until today.
The proposals from the agency in 2002 and 2003 were only made public Tuesday by The Center for Auto Safety and Public Citizen, two public interest groups that filed a lawsuit to obtain the documents under the Freedom of Information Act.
“We recommend that drivers not use these devices when driving, except in an emergency,” the NHTSA said in a draft cell phone policy. “Moreover, we are convinced that legislation forbidding the use of handheld cell phones while driving may not be effective in improving highway safety since it will not address the problem. In fact, such legislation may erroneously imply that hands-free phones are safe to use while driving.”
The recommendation was never made public, in part because of concern by administrators that public officials, including members of Congress, would be angry, thinking that the agency had “crossed the line into lobbying,” The New York Times reported Tuesday.
At the time the reports were done, there were more than 170 million cell phone subscribers in the United States, “more than half of the U.S. population,” the agency said. There now are more than 270 million subscribers and wireless penetration totaling 87 percent of the population, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association, the cell phone industry trade group.
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