KEEPING YOUNG DRIVERS OFF CELLPHONES MAKES SENSE

Distracted driving is a dangerous habit - good reason to support a proposal in Harrisburg that would ban cellphone use among 16- and 17-year-olds hitting the road for the first time.

Last year, 69 people died in crashes involving distracted drivers in Pennsylvania, according to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation statistics.

Over the past 10 years, 590 people have died in such accidents.

Berks County residents - and many others across the nation thanks to the activism of Jacy Good - are aware of one of those crashes. Good lost both her parents in a crash at Route 222 and Genesis Drive in Maidencreek on May 18, 2008, two of that year's 53 victims of distracted driving.

An 18-year-old talking on his cellphone drove through a red light in his minivan, forcing a northbound tractor-trailer on Route 222 to veer into the southbound lane, colliding head-on with the car carrying Good home from her graduation at Muhlenberg College.

Eileen Miller, the mother of Paul Miller Jr., who died in a crash at age 21, on July 5, 2010, also blames distracted driving for her tragic loss. Paul's car collided with a tractor-trailer on Route 33 near Saylorsburg; the tractor-trailer driver, who served time for involuntary manslaughter, denies having been distracted by a cellphone.

But Miller is convinced, and that's why she'd like state lawmakers to take a baby step toward ending distracted driving with a measure to be sponsored by Sen. John C. Rafferty Jr., a Montgomery County Republican who represents part of Berks, and Sen. John Sabatina Jr., a Philadelphia Democrat.

Their bill would make it illegal for novice drivers ages 16 and 17 to use cellphones while driving.

It says something for the measure that representatives of the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police and the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association were among those at a recent news conference promoting the bill.

Their members are often the first on the scene for tragedies such as the ones that befell Jacy Good's parents and Eileen Miller's son.

While the state Legislature has rejected previous efforts to ban using a cellphone behind the wheel, we hope they'll give this measure a fresh look.

The argument that a ban would infringe on civil liberties is an odd one, given the many restrictions placed on drivers based on the rationale that driving is a privilege, not a right.

Driving is a privilege that comes with restrictions aimed at safety: You must drive sober, wear a seat belt, stay under the speed limit and get your car inspected.

Citing civil liberties is a particularly weak argument against the bill Rafferty and Sabatina plan to offer.

Young people just learning to drive are particularly prone to distractions, a cellphone being a totally unnecessary one.

Keeping them off the phone while driving could have the added long-term benefit of making driving without such a distraction a lifelong habit.

The General Assembly should pass the cellphone ban on young drivers and, if it reduces traffic accidents, consider expanding it to all handheld devices.

In the meantime, everyone who drives should keep in mind that they're operating heavy machinery and should therefore keep their eyes, and full attention, on the road at all times.

- Reading Eagle

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.