US Sec. of Transport: We’re looking into tech to disable cell phones in vehicles

What happens when I'm driving on the highway and see an accident but it's somehow unsafe for me to exit or stop my vehicle? (Perhaps it's on the other side of the median.) Cell phone doesn't work, and I can't call 911. Not sure if forced corrective measures seem like the best option here. Also, not to minimize it, but how is 5,000/year an "epidemic" of any sort? Seems like there are dozens of other more dangerous things we should be focusing our time, energy, and tax dollars to solve.

Any distraction is dangerous when you drive.

I suspect the next step is to forbid talking with the passengers, and then they will remove the radio.

All of this despites statistics showing clearly that hands free phones didn't improve the situation.

mad, mad, mad

Why should passengers in vehicles be prevented from making calls? There are any number of perfectly safe situations that they would be preventing, and even emergency situations that they would be making worse, in order to correct some behavior they feel is unsafe.