[Avodah] Cellphones and Driving: A Halachik Perspective by R. Yosef Kanefsky

[Zev Sero]

On 14/12/2011 6:02 PM, Prof. Levine wrote:
> As reported in the NY Times on July 19, the likelihood that a driver holding and talking on a cellphone will crash, is equal to that of a driver whose blood alcohol level is .08 percent – the legal definition of driving while intoxicated.

But who says that that is a particularly dangerous level of
intoxication?  Just because many/most states have recently chosen to
set the legal limit there?  What was the basis for that determination?
We all know that these decisions are driven far more by politics than
by an objective evaluation of the evidence.  And if 0.08 was not really
the correct level to set the limit, then saying that some lawful
activity is "just as dangerous" as it means nothing.  If 0.08 is an
acceptable risk then something that is equally dangerous is also an
acceptable risk; and if it's also not against the law then why should
there be a halachic problem?

> The article goes on to quote a Harvard study estimating that cellphone
>  distraction causes thousand of deaths, and hundreds of thousands of
>  injuries per year.

Maybe, and maybe not.  The evidence is inconclusive.  Drivers are
distracted by many many things besides phones.  And despite the
enormous increase in the number of phones on the road, and therefore
presumably also in the number of those who use them while driving,
there is no evidence of a corresponding increase in accidents.  On
the contrary, the accident rate has dropped, and there is merely an
argument over how much more the accident rate might have dropped
without them, which is inherently speculative.

So common sense says to behave safely and not to take stupid risks;
but to turn this into a halachic proscription on specific acts is a
great responsibility, and not something that can be done on the basis
of a few studies.  How about just reminding people of the halacha we
already know: "don't be an idiot"?



PS: See this article http://26i.mj.sl.pt (from Popular Mechanics),
and this 2-year-old one http://26i.ml.sl.pt (from US News).  Also
this one http://26i.mt.sl.pt (from PJ Media) about alcohol, and
possible over-enforcement in that area.


-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
zev at sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
		 are expanding through human ingenuity."
		                            - Julian Simon