EDITORIAL: Indiana needs stronger law on distracted driving

An outstanding, popular young man from Noble County died from injuries suffered in a crash while riding in a car near Ashley. An oncoming driver crossed the center line, causing a head-on collision.

Three months later, no one knows why that car crossed the center line. The victim’s mother wonders if the other driver was distracted by using a phone, although she has no proof.

Police officers have no proof, either. Under Indiana’s law, they can’t check the driver’s phone without a search warrant issued by a judge.

Even if officers could look at the phone, only two uses of the phone would be illegal — texting and emailing. Smartphones can do a lot more than that, but everything else remains permissible. In Indiana, a driver legally can look at Facebook or a video, play a game, surf the Internet or simply carry on a voice conversation.

In the case of last summer’s fatal crash, smartphone use may have had nothing to do with the cause. The point is that investigators can’t prove or disprove that idea.

But we do know that cellphones are involved in more than 1.6 million crashes per year nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Those crashes kill some 6,000 people and cause roughly 500,000 injuries per year.

We also know that since Indiana’s texting-and-driving law took effect three years ago, Indiana State Police are writing fewer than 200 citations per year for violating it.

Compare that to Illinois, where state troopers ticketed nearly 7,000 people for using handheld cellphones last year.

The difference? Illinois bans all use of handheld cellphones while driving. Police don’t have to ask drivers what they were doing with the phones.

Under Indiana’s law, a clever driver will tell police that he or she was doing anything except texting or using email. The officer has little choice but to accept the answer, true or not.

To prove otherwise, a prosecutor would have to issue a subpoena asking to check a phone, and a judge would have to approve it. That’s too much trouble for a simple traffic ticket. However, it seems it should be worth the effort in a fatal crash.

It also should be worth the effort to make Indiana’s law more realistic. Many experts believe using a phone while driving can be more dangerous and deadly than driving while intoxicated. Our laws come down hard on drunken driving, but go easy on distracted driving.

In an interview with a TV station this summer, an influential state senator from Indianapolis said Hoosiers don’t want a stronger law, because we hate restrictions on our personal freedom.

As Hoosiers, we need to ask ourselves if our personal freedom should allow us to kill and maim others on the highways. If our answer is “no,” we need to tell our legislators.