Ban Cell Phone Use While Driving

Ban Cell Phone Use While Driving

Cell phones have become an essential property for many people; they have become part of our modern society, a status symbol. The capabilities to stay in touch with family, business members and to email are just a small handful of reasons to own a cell phone. Owning a cell phone has its merits, but do we need to use the cell phone while we are driving? Cell phone use can distract the driver causing an accident that can have a fatality. Is that phone call that important that you risk your love ones or your own life for? We need to stop this madness and ban cell phone use while driving.

Today's citizens are in a hurry and feel the place to "catch-up" is in a vehicle as they are driving down the highway, but to hold a conversation, texting and emailing on the cell phone while driving is dangerous and should be banned. Using a hands free device can have its merits, yet it still distracts the driver and causes them to become not only a hazard to themselves but to others on the road. Some individual's proclaim the government does not have the right to legislate against their freedom to use their cell phones; they feel they should be able to use the cell phone where and how they wish. These individuals wonder into other lanes or make sudden stops then accelerate. These individuals are criminals on the highway; drivers diverted attention through cell phone use. While I agree our rights and freedom as citizens are important, using the cell phone while driving is dangerous and that freedom should not expand to put others on the road in danger.

Driving distracted has developed into a concern. In the last ten years there have been many new electronic devices developed and finding their way into the vehicle. Today drivers can surf the internet, send and receive emails, socialize on cell phone and even

watch television. These new multitasking actions are more distracting because of the thought process being used over a longer period of time. (Progressive Insurance, 2006) Eight states have banned using hand-held cell phones and thirty states have banned text messaging while driving. There are no states that presently ban all cell phone use while driving, because of the theory that hands-free conversations are less likely to divert the attention of the driver which will lessen the chance in causing a collision. There is a chart

that outlines all state cell phone use laws, go to www.ghsa.org. (GHSA, 2010) Recent

studies have shown hands free devices are as dangerous as hand held devices.

since the diversion comes, not from operating the cell phone, but the conversation itself. The National Highway Traffic safety Administration has shown that hands free devices are as dangerous far back as 2002, yet the government agency sat on this information because they were afraid of upsetting members of Congress. The information has been recently released after several Freedom of Information Act requests were filed. (Physorg.com, 2009)

In 2006 a study by the University of Utah found talking on a cell phone does reduce a driver's alertness, whether it is a hand-held

or a hands-free device. (Jewell, Jen,

A student talks on a hands-free cell phone while operating a driving simulator. 2010) The study found that motorists who talk on cell phones while driving are as impaired as drunk drivers. Frank Drews, co-author of the study said, "We found that people are as impaired when they drive and talk on a cell phone as they are when they drive intoxicated at the blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 percent, which is the minimum level that defines illegal drunken driving in most U.S. states. If legislators really want to address driver distraction, then they should consider outlawing cell phone use while driving." Professor David Strayer, the study's lead author, has this to say: "Just like you put yourself and other people at risk when you drive drunk, you put yourself and others at risk when you use a cell phone and drive. The level of impairment is very similar." It is obvious that the safest direction to take is not use a cell phone when you drive. In previous research by Drews and Strayer include:

• A 2001 study showed that the use of hands-free cell phones were just as distracting as handheld cell phones.

• A 2003 study showed that when the motorist looked directly at road conditions but did not see them because they attention was diverted by a cell phone conversation. This is referred to as "inattention blindness." The driver is not aware they are being impaired.

• A 2005 study showed implied