Let me say right up front: I'm as guilty as next guy. But I'm an advocate for banning cell phone use while driving.
I won't try to tell you I've never done it myself, but I agree with the studies showing how dangerous it can be and how much less attention we give the road when we're on the phone.
Nearly every year, someone in the Legislature tries to pass a statewide ban on using cell phones while driving, though the latest cause célèbre is to simply ban text-messaging while driving instead of prohibiting all but emergency phone use.
These measures so far have failed to get enough traction in the Legislature and the Governor's Office to become law.
That doesn't stop many organizations from instituting their own rules.
Several local and national businesses have policies prohibiting employees from using phones while driving. The Arizona Daily Star's policy is that employees driving on company business must use a hands-free device or pull off the road to use a hand-held cell phone.
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Governments have various policies too.
Pima County's cell phone rules prohibit employees from using county cell phones for personal reasons or in a facility where there are land lines. They're also prohibited from using county cell phones while driving any vehicle.
"In case of an emergency, employees must exercise caution and park at the closest available parking space or curb before using the cellular telephone," the policy says.
County employees have to sign an acknowledgment of these policies when getting a county-issued phone and must take a defensive-driving class before they are granted use of a county vehicle, county Transportation Department spokeswoman Annabelle Quihuis said.
City employees are supposed to act safely when operating a city vehicle.
The city vehicle-use policy says: "Employees shall utilize electronic communication devices in a safe and prudent manner and shall comply with their departmental policy on the use and operation of electronic communication devices."
In short, the rule is drive safely and be careful.
The Tucson Department of Transportation does not have a formal policy against using cell phones while driving a city vehicle, but its staff is told to obey traffic laws and, again, to use electronic devices in "a safe and prudent manner," department spokesman Michael Graham said.
Surely some families have tried devices that prevent cell phones from working in the car. There must be others that just have family rules against talking, texting and Googling while driving.
Maybe this is something we have to take into our own hands — stop waiting for the government to tell us what to do and just resist the temptation to pick up the phone and start dialing between lane changes.
Road Q
Question: "We visited a business on Fourth Avenue yesterday. Parking, or lack of such space, is generally an issue in the area. We found a space but had to back into it diagonally — rather awkward and probably tests some drivers' skills severely. I have never seen an arrangement like this anywhere and wondered whose brainstorm this was and the reason for it. It doesn't seem to make any sense," Tom Varnell wrote.
Answer: The city is planning improvements to parking on North Fourth Avenue, including the possibility of a parking garage. However, in the meantime, one of the reasons the back-in diagonal spots were installed is they can make it much easier for drivers to see bicyclists, who are common in the North Fourth Avenue area. When drivers leave their parking spaces while facing toward the street instead of the curb, a cyclist will be approaching the front of the vehicle, not the rear. This configuration also is used on East University Boulevard near North Park Avenue.
