Meanjoe and I are pretty much in agreement here. I, too, am not denying that cell phones can be a distraction. My point is that there are a LOT of things people do in their cars that can be distractions. Either ban them all (and hire a hell of a lot more cops because they’re gonna have to pull just about everyone over) or just make distracted driving penalties tougher.
As Mike said, it’s easy to spot a distracted driver. And contrary to his assertion, it’s not always a cell phone user that’s weaving or driving slow in the fast lane. Sometimes it’s the guy who’s trying to eat a burger and fries, and is driving with his knees to free up his hands. If you make distracted driving an offense then the cop will pull over the person who’s driving like a moron no matter why he’s driving like a moron.
If you ban cell phones, then among other things the cop will have a guy who was driving perfectly fine pulled over for using a cell phone, and meanwhile tens if not hundreds of people driving like idiots will be sailing by the traffic stop. Banning specific objects is not the answer. Penalizing behavior is.