NEW YORK — Faced with worries about car crashes caused by cell-phone distractions, the nation's largest wireless company is breaking ranks with the industry to support some government restrictions on a very lucrative practice.
Verizon Wireless will back certain state initiatives, rather than national or local efforts, to impose "hands-free" requirements such as using a headset, ear piece or speakerphone for making calls while driving.
Despite the new stance at Verizon, rival wireless companies such as SBC Communications and Sprint PCS maintain their long-held opposition to government regulation. They stress the need for more driver-safety education and argue that existing laws against distracted driving already prohibit reckless cell-phone use and other attempts to multitask behind the wheel.
While statistics on distracted driver accidents are still being compiled, the growing perception has been that accident rates are soaring with the recent explosion of mobile-phone use in the United States, and studies show dramatic safety risks for preoccupied drivers.
"The number of accidents and near-accidents I've seen is really high, so it's a good idea," said Gary Hartwig, 41, a printer from Hartford, Wis., who was in Chicago for the Personal Communications Industry Association's annual convention.
According to the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, which has organized a campaign encouraging responsible use of new vehicle technologies, distracted drivers cause at least 4,000 accidents a day and perhaps as many as 8,000.
A 1997 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found talking on a phone while driving quadrupled the risk of an accident and was almost as dangerous as being drunk behind the wheel.
Earlier this year, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, reported that more than 100 million Americans now use wireless phones.
For cell-phone companies, the most valuable segment of that growing customer base is the business market, especially high-volume users like mobile workers.
In a bid to fuel that usage while improving safety and convenience, mobile-phone companies and driver-assistance services like OnStar from General Motors are rushing to introduce voice-activation features.
The first demonstration of the new Verizon policy came Monday in Chicago when a company official testified before a city council committee that is weighing a proposal to require drivers to use hands-free cellular devices.
Annette Jacobs, president of Verizon's Great Lakes Area, told the panel that Verizon opposes the city proposal because there is already a state law that prohibits the use of headphones while driving, and that an added requirement in Chicago would effectively make it impossible for drivers to use cell phones except by voice-activated speakerphone.
As an alternative, Jacobs said Verizon would seek to have the Illinois headset ban repealed and replaced with a statewide requirement that drivers use hands-free devices with car phones and cell phones.
The company said it favors state laws over more localized measures so that drivers can expect some consistency in the rules as they travel from one municipality to the next.
But other mobile phone companies remained adamant against new regulations that would be cell-phone specific, emphasizing education and awareness campaigns as the best approach.
"It comes down to common sense. The first and only job for drivers is to operate the vehicle safely," said Sprint PCS spokesman Tom Murphy, noting a "laundry list" of potential driving distractions he contends with, including his chattering 3-year-old son.
"Whether it's smoking a cigarette, changing your lipstick or eating a cheeseburger, there are already laws about reckless driving," he said "What's next, a law saying children need muzzles while adults are behind the wheel?"