I am not trying to argue about what is a good or a bad idea. I think the point is if you are not paying 100% attention to driving, then you are more likely to have an accident. It matters less what the activity that is distracting you is compared to the fact that you are distracted. We focus on the cell phone thing but eating, doing makeup, texting, reading a map, reading a newspaper, and (yes I have seen this) reading a book are just as bad. If you are really engaged with a conversation with a passenger, then you are distracted.
Due to our commuter culture Americans tend to have things that make driving more like a mini-house. It took Mercedes-Benz awhile to figure that out with something as simple as a coffee cup holder. You don't drink your coffee while driving on the Autobahn. Who is right?
It is just that sometimes it bothers me some restrictions that actually are related to misbehaviour, not to the restricted thing (or device in this case).
Speaking as someone, who in the last 24 hours was: run off the highway onto the shoulder by a guy talking on his handheld who didn't see me, watched a truck go barreling through a red light (on his cell phone), get cut off by another cell phone talker who decided to make a left turn from the far right lane AND had a woman in front of me slow down to 10 MPH in the acceleration lane of an on ramp so she could light a cigarette -- I couldn't agree more. If it means you have to have one hand off the wheel, fiddling with something for an extended period of time then it doesn't belong in the front seat of the car.
And if anyone in government is reading this - don't waste your time with the laws because the ones we have aren't enforced.
So does picking up my kid from school. And yet most of the time I do it anyway.
re: "although it still introduces a lot of new distractions."