By DOUG RALLS
Special to Brentwood Home Page
On October 28, 2009, at 10:15 in the morning, our 23-year-old son Brian Ralls died.

He was driving from his office to his sales territory on I-40 near Lebanon when a young woman lost control of her Jeep Cherokee, crossed over the median and hit Brian’s car head-on.

He was killed instantly.

How does someone lose control of their vehicle to the degree that they cross over an interstate highway median?  In this case, the young woman who hit Brian had been distracted by using her cell phone.  The accident investigators determined that was the sole reason for the crash.  One call … a few seconds … and the son that we had loved and nurtured for 23 years was gone.

This week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made news by issuing a recommendation to all states that laws be implemented banning the use of cell phones while driving a motor vehicle.   The reaction to this recommendation has, understandably, been very polarized. 

Many who have lived through or understand what devastation distracted driving can cause are all for a ban, while others who constantly use their phones while driving are adamantly opposed.  To no one’s surprise, most automobile manufacturers and cell phone companies are lining up against the recommendation.  They have a vested financial interest, and money always talks.

Now, the NTSB does not make these recommendations capriciously.  Nor are they out to win popularity contests.  Instead, they must rely on the facts at hand.  Their sole function is to make us all safer while traveling. 

The scientific and statistical data regarding the use of cell phones while driving is compelling, and far too detailed and lengthy to delve into here.  Suffice to say that there have been more than 300 (yes…300!) studies done on cell phone distraction, and the enormously overwhelming preponderance of the data shows that the suggested laws are warranted.  I am confident that eventually they will be enacted in every state, just as DUI laws and mandatory seat belt laws have been.

But that won’t happen immediately, and when it does, it won’t eliminate all cell phone use in cars, just as some people still drive drunk or refuse to buckle up.  What the NTSB’s recommendation really accomplishes in the short term is to bring this issue to the forefront of public discussion.  People will learn more about the issue, and when they do, they will understand that cell phone use while driving should be as socially unacceptable as driving drunk, because it is just as dangerous. 

That statement is not hyperbole.  The studies demonstrate that simply using your cell phone for a conversation, hands-free or not, is at least as much an impairment to driving ability as a .08 blood alcohol content, which is the limit for a DUI arrest.

As you might imagine, when I drive through the streets of Brentwood and see people talking on their cell phones or texting, I have an emotional reaction.  For many months after Brian’s death, my emotions varied between rage and sadness.  Eventually, however, I came to understand that people weren’t being intentionally careless.  They simply didn’t know the facts that were needed to make a more responsible decision.  The people of Brentwood are caring, and when given a chance, will do what is right. 

That is what led my wife and I to start speaking out about distracted driving.  Since that awful October day, we have been speaking to any group that will listen to us, telling as many people as possible that cell phone use of any kind while driving is a potentially deadly activity.  So far, we have spoken to more than 9,000 people throughout Middle Tennessee, most of them younger adults and teenagers.

Behind every statistic that you read, there is a real person, and a real story.  Ours is only one of them. 

I encourage you to put your cell phones away or turn them off when you get behind the wheel.  This decision by the NTSB notwithstanding, we don’t need to wait for a law to pass in order to do the responsible thing, do we?  It really is potentially a matter of life and death.  It was for our beloved son Brian, and it could be for your loved one too.

For more information about the dangers of distracted driving and the NTSB recommendation, go to:

http://www.distraction.gov/