I was reading the paper and watching KSL “news” this morning and they we’re both reporting on Linda Mulkey’s personal campaign against people talking on the phone while driving their cars.

In case you don’t remember, Linda Mulkey lost her daughter earlier this year in a car accident caused by a 19 year old driver who ran a red light because he was talking on his cell phone.

In September of 2005, Mayor Peter Corroon signed an Executive Order banning employees of Salt Lake County from talking on cell phones while driving. I wondered, at the time, why he didn’t pass a county-wide ban, but, I didn’t wonder very hard. I’d read a few studies showing how much more distracted people get while driving and talking then they do with other task, but, Mayor Corroon was widely praised and I didn’t give it much thought.

When Mayor Corroon signed his Executive Order, I imagine it freaked out the cell phone lobbyists. They put in a call to their good buddy Utah State Representative Wayne A. Harper and said, likely, “Do something!”

Harper called his buddy Utah State Senator Michael G. Waddoups, and they crafted HB 423 for the 2006 Legislative session, a sneaky bill banning Utah Cities and Towns from enacting cell phone/driving bans.

HB 423 is sneaky for a reason. It popped up out of the ether and, if you read the time stamps on the bill, was pushed at the most distracting times during the session to make sure that everyone was busy with budgets and taxes, and not paying attention to stealth legislation. That’s the Majority way up on Utah’s Hill.

When Mayor Rocky Anderson signed his Executive Order earlier this year, he was joined by Linda Mulkey, to pay some small, insignificant tribute to the lesson learned from her daughter’s loss of life.

The reaction from the press was predictably less warm than that given to Mayor Corroon two years earlier, but, for Rocky, not too bad. The problem is, they missed the point. Again.

Yes, Rocky wanted to pass a city-wide ban. With information on the dangers that arise from driving while talking, and their near mirror with drunk driving, recent tragic events in the valley where people died, it seemed a no-brainer.

We, as a society, don’t allow people to drive drunk with severe consequences (depending on the judge) but, with near identical levels of distraction and loss of ability, we’re ok with cell phones.

Additional studies are showing that talking on the phone while driving is a distraction unlike many other driving distractions, but something keeps a majority of the population from believing that they could be dangerous on the road.

“Everyone else talking on the cell is dangerous, but not me, I pay attention.” This is, coincidentally enough, much the same belief that a drunk driver holds. Sadly, it’s not grounded in reality.

Tomorrow, at 10am at the City / County Building on State Street, Mayor Anderson is having another press conference on the cell phone/driving issue. He’s rolling out a program called SLC Cell Safe. This is a voluntary program where businesses, citizens and students between the ages of 16 and 18 can take a pledge to put down the cell phone while driving and receive a fancy decal for their cars.

It seems so small a thing when you look at the statistical reality that is distracted driving, but, hopefully it will help raise awareness and inspire people to change their behavior before, like Linda Mulkey, that behavior impacts a family with devastating effects.