Still talking when driving, despite the law

In Illinois, teens are supposed to put down the cell phone when they pull away from the curb. Under state law, cell phone use while driving is prohibited for motorists under age 19, except in the case of an emergency.

We have been reluctant to support bans on cell phone use in cars but have made an exception when it comes to teens, at least those driving with a learner's permit. The Illinois law has good intentions. Teenage drivers have the highest accident rate of all age categories. They don't need the distraction of talking while driving to add to the risk already posed by their lack of experience on the road.

But in supporting this ban, we also recognized that it might be difficult to enforce. Teens just might ignore the law.

And that is exactly what is happening in a state that has a ban similar to Illinois'.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that teens in North Carolina haven't been deterred from using cell phones while driving, even though a law enacted in 2006 prohibits such. Actually, teenage-driver, cell-phone use has edged a bit higher, according to the study.

An assumption from this study is that teens aren't worried about getting caught carrying on conversations on the road because the law isn't being vigorously enforced.

This shouldn't be taken as criticism of the police. They have enough to do in enforcing all traffic laws and being alert for crime to be pulling over cell-phone chatty teens in good numbers. And it becomes even more difficult with hands-free cell phone communication, given officers can't see a young person holding a cell phone to his or her ear.

It would be interesting to have a similar study done in Illinois, to measure the effect of this state's teen driver cell phone law.

But keep in mind that the best use of this law is as a teaching tool.

First off, parents should be stressing to their teen children that they should never use a cell phone to casually talk with their friends while driving. In emergencies, yes. Otherwise, no. It's just too dangerous. And in the course of this lesson, remind the teens that using a cell phone while driving not only violates the family rules, but is also against the law.

Driver education teachers should also be emphasizing to their students that the state has made it illegal to drive while using a cell phone. It's done so out of concern for their safety and the well-being of others on the road.

We don't know how effective the teen-driver cell phone ban is in Illinois. Again, it would be interesting to find out.

But if the ban is being ignored, it would be another example of how laws alone can't do the work of parents and educators who teach teens how to drive. If teens hear, over and over again, that it's plain dumb -- not to mention against the law -- to mix talking with driving, it could get through to them in a way laws cannot.