The past few decades have witnessed significant consciousness raising in New York and around the country regarding the dangers of drunk driving. State legislatures have responded, enacting tougher penalties for drunk driving and lowering the permissible blood alcohol content level. Yet the problem is far from solved. Hardly a week goes by without the news covering a DUI crash. An estimated 13,000 to 17,000 deaths per year result from drunk driving nationwide.

But a new road safety epidemic is on the rise: cell phone use while driving. Studies show that drivers using their cell phones are just as unsafe as those who are intoxicated. Yet states have been relatively slow to adapt their laws to this sobering reality. New York prohibits handheld cell phone use while driving, but not every state has outlawed texting while driving.

Estimates place the number of automobile deaths attributable to cell phone use at approximately 2,600 per year. Although not as high as the number of deaths caused by drunk driving car crashes, every one of those deaths might have been avoided if the driver had paid attention to the road instead of using a cell phone.

Just a few decades ago, drunk driving killed about 25,000 people each year. The number has been gradually reduced through increased awareness, and perhaps the same can happen with cell phone related deaths. Using cell phones behind the wheel is just one part of the larger problem of distracted driving, which includes eating, searching the radio or changing a CD, personal grooming and a host of other behaviors that siphon a driver's full attention from the road.

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Distracted is the new drunk," Jonathan Zimmerman, Feb. 9, 2012.