First off
the study that says cell phone use is as dangerous as drunk driving was poorly conducted.
* The comparison is to a driver
at the legal limit. Not smashed. So what they are really saying is that cell phone use is no more dangerous than a legal driver.
* The researchers did not directly assess whether the phones caused accidents
* Nationwide cell phone usage is up and accident rates are down
Also can you define "accident"? Are we including just serious collisions or do fender benders count too?
Personally, what I see here is an effect that's becoming more and more prevalent. Person-A is annoyed by something Person-B is doing. They can't get an outright ban on it due to all that personal freedom crap so they drum up an excuse based on either:
Health and Safety
National Security
or
The children! Think of the children!
and try to get it banned that way.