Driven to Distraction.

One of my favorite things about following the federal bureaucracy is seeing an agency official pop up in the middle of a news story to puncture a bit of conventional wisdom that has found its way into public policy. Case in point: in a piece in today's NY Times about state laws banning drivers' use of cell phones without hands-free devices, up pops Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to say, "We've evaluated and come to the conclusion that hands-free use is just as risky or perhaps riskier than hand-held phones because it's the cognitive distraction that can compromise driving." I have the same thought every time I see a car start weaving through traffic or suddenly slowing to a crawl, and then notice that the driver appears to be talking to himself or herself. It's not the phone, it's the talking.