The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is having a bad month now that The New York Times has alerted the public to the fact that NHTSA failed to make public hundreds of pages and warnings about the dangers of driving while talking on a cell phone, hands-free or otherwise.

Why would the government entity responsible for making roadways safer knowingly suppress a wealth of data about the dangers of cell phone distractions behind the wheel? Politics. Or more to the point, politics and money.

This taxpayer-funded organization has long had a chummy relationship with the auto companies, who, despite their recent monetary troubles, have always held great sway in Washington.

Which is why, when former agency head Dr. Jeffrey Runge wanted to alert states considering “hand-held” cell phone bans that moving to “hands-free” wasn’t going to solve the problem of cell phone distraction, he was shut down by his bosses at the Department of Transportation. He is quoted in the Times as saying, “My advisers upstairs said we should not poke a finger in the eye of the Appropriations Committee.”

To understand why, follow the money: During the 2003-2004 election cycle — when the safety administration’s findings were buried — the auto industry gave more than $6 million to members of Congress, which controls the agency’s funding.

The auto companies are making millions by building new cars that incorporate all kinds of distracting equipment — TVs, GPS units, iPod hookups, etc. And car companies constantly are inventing new ways to support mobile phone connectivity. The latest are cars that allow a driver to make calls and send texts with verbal commands.

Interestingly, studies like one conducted by the University of Utah show that driving while talking on a hands-free cell phone is equivalent to driving at the legal drunken driving threshold of .08 blood alcohol concentration.

So if driving while talking on a hands-free cell phone impairs drivers as though they are drunk, why are we constantly coming up with more severe ways to punish DUI offenders at .08, rather than punishing the 81 percent of Americans who admit to using cell phones while driving?

Perhaps it’s because the auto companies sell lots of cell-phone related paraphernalia, but they don’t sell beer.

Something else the automobile companies sell: speed.

Speeding is the number one cause of fatalities on the roads, killing 13,040 Americans in 2007. But, does NHTSA pressure the car companies to build slower cars? Nope. Does it suggest that Congress require speed governors on cars? Nope. But is it working hard to put alcohol sensing technology in every car as standard equipment? You bet.

Given these facts, it’s hard not to conclude that NHTSA’s priorities have less to do with protecting our safety and more to do with protecting the car companies’ bottom lines.

Sarah Longwell is the managing director of the American Beverage Institute.