Government is at its worst when it insists on trying to protect people from themselves. State-based bans on driving with a cell phone are one perfect example.

It's not smart to allow yourself to be distracted while driving. Activities such as talking on the phone, eating, applying makeup or fiddling with the radio that take your attention away from the road can be dangerous. I actually saw a guy reading a newspaper while driving up I-5 once. But if Americans want to do something stupid in their private vehicles, they should be free to do so and to pay any consequences that result.

Interestingly, a new study finds that cell phone bans, such as Oregon's Legislature enacted last year, make no difference in crash rates. There's little reason to keep the ban if it won't accomplish the goal the Legislature claimed they wanted to reach by passing it.