As Isaac Asimov put it, "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
It's not limited to the United States, of course.
Using the phone while driving isn't really something you can defend as acceptable. We know, from studies, that just talking on the phone extends your reaction time by some two seconds. That can easily mean the difference between life and death for a motorist. Texting or fiddling with the phone is infinitely worse, since you're not even looking at the road anymore.
So yes, sometimes we need to tell citizens how to think. Because so many of them choose not to.