Why We Shouldn't Drive With Cell Phones
Other People Are Reading
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Statistics and Facts
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You may have experienced someone talking on a cell phone while driving and watched as they had a "near miss" that could have turned tragic. If you thought to yourself that the dangerous practice should be outlawed, you wouldn't be the only one to think so. A recent survey showed that 80 percent of people believe that cell phone usage should be regulated when driving, according to Nationwide Insurance. Further, 67 percent of people surveyed also were in favor of laws to ban cell phone use during driving. Other research by Carnegie Mellon suggests that brain activity necessary for driving is lowered by 37 percent during times when drivers use cell phones. Many states in the United States have already passed laws instituting a ban on both handheld cell phone use and texting by drivers. These states include Washington, the District of Columbia, Utah, California, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Tickets can be issued. Utilizing features like texting or talking with handheld phones while behind the wheel has now attained "primary enforcement" status. Police pull drivers over for this alone, and don't just check it when making a stop for another reason.
What It All Means
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The fact is that using a cell phone when driving, whether handheld, through earpieces, or texting, reduces your ability to react, and your response time. It can have as detrimental an effect on your reactions as driving after having consumed an excessive amount of alcohol. Lowered responses when driving can slow your ability to brake in time, and avoid pedestrians. The chance of errors that can cause wrecks increases dramatically. The time to multitask is not when you are operating a motor vehicle. Research carried out at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that driving distracted accounted for eight out of 10 total crashes. Near crashes that were attributed to distraction accounted for 65 percent of those reported. Since the use of cell phones is growing in popularity, the risks of younger and older drivers using them while driving is increasing too.
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The End Result
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While as many as one in 10 motorists ranging in age from 16 to 24 will be on their cell phones at any given time, it will still be difficult to enforce many of the new laws. Researchers and skeptics of these recent statutes believe that drivers will simply use their cell phones anyway, while keeping an eye out for police. Although annual counts of cell-phone-related deaths have topped 2,500 in the United States according to a Human Factors and Ergonomics Society survey, over 300,000 injuries have also been caused by cell phone distractions. While hands-free calling is more accepted during driving, these surveys show it to be just as distracting as other forms of cell phone use. Refraining from using your cell phone for any reason while driving can help you reduce your chances of getting in a fatal crash or injuring yourself or others.
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