A Chattanooga motorist holds an iPhone 4S while driving on Thursday. The National Transportation Safety Board declared last week that texting, emailing or chatting on a cellphone while driving is too dangerous to be allowed and urged all states to ban any cellphone use behind the wheel except for emergencies.State House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick was on an access road near the Chickamauga dam when his cellphone rang with a question from a reporter.
Do you think the recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board to ban all cellphone use while driving – even hands-free phones – could get on the books in Tennessee?
“No!” he said, calling a ban a “silly” idea.
“No one would pay attention to it. I think [people] would completely ignore it,” said McCormick, R-Chattanooga. “I am talking to you right now while I am driving down the road.”
Other legislators in the Tennessee House and Senate didn’t speak as critically of the NTSB proposal, but their conclusion was the same: Such legislation stands little chance of becoming law in Tennessee.