Editor’s Note: Are cell phones dangerous?

A story posted recently on the Insurance Journal Web site, www.insurancejournal.com, described a fire in which a man in California was badly burned when his cell phone seemingly combusted spontaneously. According to the original story, firefighters believed a malfunctioning cell phone in the pocket of the man’s pants set fire to his nylon and polyester clothes. Fire investigators later retracted that theory but did not identify the source of the fire that caused $75,000 in damages to the hotel in which the man was staying and left him in critical condition.

Although the cell phone is apparently “off the hook” for that incident, using a cell phone while driving poses a danger not only to the chatting driver but to others on the road as well. According to the Insurance Information Institute, one recent study found the use of cell phones to be the number one distraction for drivers, followed by drowsiness. In addition, an August 2006 survey of teens conducted by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety found that text messaging via cell phones was the biggest driving distraction for that age group.

According to the I.I.I., 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of crashes involve some form of driver inattention within three seconds of the event.

The I.I.I. reported that as of October 2006, more than 224 million people in the U.S. used cell phones, compared with approximately 4.3 million in 1990, according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association.

A good portion of those cell phone users seemed to be in force during a recent shopping excursion with my daughter. It was a rainy, ugly day during the holidays and the roads and parking lots were full of folks trying to take advantage of after-Christmas sales. It seemed like every driver on the road, except me, was talking on the phone and driving erratically. And, sorry to say, most of them were women.

At first my daughter and I thought it was kind of funny, all these people obliviously chatting away while maneuvering giant SUVs, trucks and expensive luxury cars through crowded parking lots and on slick roads. But the more we witnessed, the less humorous it became. The worst example occurred on the freeway. We noticed a small SUV trying to enter the freeway in front of us. It was weaving back and forth between lanes, and alternately slowing and speeding up. When we finally passed the vehicle, we saw a woman holding her cell phone in her left hand while perching a notebook against the steering wheel with her right hand, trying to talk, write and drive at the same time. Fortunately for us, we exited as she kept chatting and writing, creating a hazard for other drivers along the way.

Are cell phones dangerous? Ubiquitous and annoying, distracting and obnoxious perhaps, but dangerous? I’m not so sure. Now for those who can’t keep from phoning and driving, that’s another story.