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Cellphone bill
is good first step

THE ISSUE A House committee has approved a bill that would ban driving while talking on a handheld cellphone.

PROHIBITION of driving while talking on a handheld cellphone has begun moving in the state Legislature, despite mounting evidence that handsfree cellphone conversations are just as dangerous. Political realities may force lawmakers to adopt the halfway measure first. A total cellphone ban when driving should follow someday -- sooner rather than later -- just as seat belts led to shoulder straps.

New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., numerous municipalities and 25 foreign countries disallow driving while using handheld cellphones. The Hawaii Legislature and City Council have considered the proposal in the past. It has been approved by the House transportation committee in the current session and appears to have leadership support in the Senate.

Rodney Haraga, the state transportation director, says his department supports "anything that can protect the public from itself," but he is unpersuaded that cellphones cause more accidents than other distractions. Haraga says he uses a handsfree mobile phone, although studies keep showing that is as distractive as a handheld cellphone.

A new study by researchers at the University of Utah found that 18- to 25-year-old motorists talking on handsfree cellphones reacted to brake lights from a car in front of them on a driving simulator at the same level as septuagenarians without cellphones. "It's like instantly aging a large number of drivers," said Utah psychology professor David Strayer, the study's chief author.

Previous studies headed by Strayer have determined that motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than drunken drivers with blood-alcohol levels of more than 0.08 percent, and that handsfree cell phones are as distracting as handheld cell phones.

The Utah researchers found three years ago that cell phone conversations divert the drivers' attention "to an engaging cognitive context other than the one associated with driving," putting them in another mind zone. Every study since then has supported that conclusion.

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State is obliged
to enforce bottle bill

THE ISSUE A Health Department official says the state's new program isn't working.

THOUGH often referred to as the "bottle bill," the state's month-old program to recycle beverage containers is the law and despite the Lingle administration's long-standing objection to it, state officials and agencies are obligated to carry out the statute as best they can.

To declare the law unworkable when it has not yet been fully implemented would thwart the effort that has widespread support. Moreover, the administration's issues are either ones that are now moot or can be worked out.

In a briefing before legislators this week, Deputy Health Director Larry Lau complained that the law had not provided a long enough transition period for beverage producers to place the 5-cent deposit labels on containers. Seeing as how the law was passed in 2002, it should have been no surprise to bottlers that a change was coming. In any case, that's water under the bridge.

The chief difficulty, Lau said, is that there aren't enough redemption centers, causing consumers inconvenience. However, the law provides the administration with the authority to designate redemption sites in July if none are voluntarily set up in certain vicinities. Officials should be preparing now so that come July, sites will be ready.

Meanwhile, the administration should be encouraging retailers who sell the beverages to assume some responsibility for the waste those products produce.

So far, none of the stores -- save one, on a trial basis -- have been willing to take back containers, saying the costs in employee time and space are too great. The state can help retailers by linking them with recycling companies eager to collect the containers and that can provide machines that won't require much space and effort.

It's no secret that the governor would like the recycling law repealed, but her opposition gives her and her staff no license to impede its success.