New York has become the first state to regulate the use of cell phones in cars, with a new law requiring drivers to use only hands-free technology such as headsets.

Beginning in December, New York drivers caught holding a cell phone while driving will face a fine of up to $ 100. Another 41 states have proposed similar legislation, all of which is misguided and based on false perceptions, not facts.

Already roughly a dozen localities—from Westchester, N.Y., to Brooklyn, Ohio—have declared the front seat off-limits to hand-held cell phones.

Backers of these proposals say that cell phones have been the cause of an extraordinarily large number of automobile accidents. But statistics reveal a very different picture.

Far more distracting to drivers are things that happen outside the car, such as construction or roadside accidents, which contribute to nearly 30 percent of car wrecks, according to a May study by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center that employed government crash data.

Adjusting a radio or CD player is also risky (11.4 percent), as is chatting with passengers, which ranks third (10.9 percent). Cell phones contribute to only 1.5 percent of accidents.

Lawmakers should not be involved in regulating what people do inside their cars. If fiddling with the car stereo is more dangerous than cell phone use, should legislators slap a ban on car radios and CD players as well?

A number of different activities—adjustment of air conditioning, drinking coffee, arguing with a spouse, dealing with a rowdy child—can lead to wrecks and even fatal crashes. But there are no bans on these actions because Americans want the liberty to decide when and how they will take risks in favor of convenience or efficiency.

Many people take the small risk of using a cell phone to notify their boss they’ll be late for a meeting, or to call their spouse to say they are on the way home. And every day cell phone users make an estimated 140,000 emergency calls, according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.

Before charging ahead with a ban, legislators ought to weigh these substantial benefits against the costs. Supporters of a mandate for hands-free devices say the use of these devices would help to minimize the risk posed by drivers using cell phones.

But many experts disagree, saying it’s the conversation, not the phone, that distracts a driver. “There are no data to support the notion that hands-free phones are safer than hand-held phones,” says Joshua Cohen, a researcher at the Harvard University Center for Risk Analysis.

He warns that a headset law is “potentially dangerous” because it could have the unintended consequence of providing a false sense of security to those who use cell phones while driving.

Instead of creating new laws to mandate the use of hardware inside a vehicle, lawmakers ought to increase safety in the streets by overseeing stricter enforcement of the negligent driving laws already in place.

Common sense says that a ban on the use of hand-held cell phones in cars could easily work against this goal.

If law enforcement officers are needlessly forced to hunt down every driver using a cellular phone, they will have less time to spend patrolling negligent driving and more serious crimes.

Numerous mundane distractions can contribute to automobile accidents, but cell phones figure among the least of these. Until the government can prove otherwise, Americans ought to be free to use their cell phones how and where they please.

This article was nationally distributed by Bridge News.

Helen Chaney is a public policy fellow in the Center for Freedom and Technology at the California-based Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. She can be reached via email at hchaney@pacificresearch.org.