Hello, New York! You listening? Welcome to another small corner of the convoluted world of unenforceable legislation.
Americans were pitched headfirst last week into a debate that Japan largely chose to bypass several years ago, when a ban against drivers using hand-held cell phones was incorporated into the nation's Road Traffic Law. In November, under the terms of a bill passed by the New York State Assembly on Tuesday, New York will become the first U.S. state to prohibit cellphone use by drivers.
Passage of the bill came as something of a surprise, despite the groundswell of support for just such legislation across America in recent months. Similarly worded bans have been proposed, but failed to pass, in 41 states in the last two and a half years, and there is still strong resistance by the well-connected cellphone corporate lobby to any prohibition whatever. With their win in New York, however, supporters of the ban feel the door has finally been opened, with an issue once seen as just another crackpots' hobbyhorse suddenly achieving mainstream respectability.