Cell Phone Usage In The Car
A very long time ago, people used to communicate mostly in person or through writing letters to each other. Certain topics of conversation such as what a person may have eaten that day or which errands he or she had to run were consider completely minor and were most likely never mentioned through a letter being sent to a friend that lived a few hours away. Since then, technology allowed people to communicate with the use of telephones, which made life more comfortable. Now a day, we are just a little too comfortable, especially living in the United States with all of the modern technology that has been invented over the last fifty years or so. Today, almost every one over the age of fourteen carries around their own private telephone where they can be reached at any given time. Cellular phones have been on the rise during the last decade and a half and are getting more and more popular every day. Most people do not even shut their phones off ever, rather they just silence them while they are asleep, in class, or doing something important where their phone cannot start ringing. That is the new modern world in which we live in today; modern and instant. If I needed to get a hold of a friend ten years ago, I would have to call his or her house and if my friend was not available, I would have to leave a message and either wait for a call in return or try again later. Not today. Today I can just call their cell phone and if they don’t pick up, I could call again if I want and again and again. I could leave voicemails, texts, e-mails, anything. In an instant I can reach my friend no matter what they are doing, no matter where they are. In an instant I can call them while they are busy driving. In an instant they can start rummaging through their cup holders to find their phone to see who is calling. In an instant, something dangerous could happen to them. That is what is so scary about the use of cell phones while driving.
I believe that when a person talks on the phone while driving, whether using a hands-free device or not, they can still easily be distracted and become less focused on the road. Ones reaction can become delayed when trying to switch lanes or when pulling up to a light. Research shows that people who are talking on their phone while driving will have to stop fast for a light since they are more focused on the conversation and do not notice that the light at the intersection has turned yellow or red until later. This delayed reaction causes them to have to stop fast. When the light at the intersection turns green, their reaction is delayed once again and they are usually last to accelerate after the light turns green and it is their turn to proceed. People are going to be more focused on the conversation than on the fact that a person could be in their blind spot while trying to switch over lanes. Other driving distractions that can add to the distraction of cell phone use is time of day. As it gets darker, it is sometimes harder to see the roads clearly and focus well. Using a phone can only add to the distraction. Furthermore, the weather, especially in Michigan where we live can get very bad. Whether it be fog, rain, snow, or even hail. When a person puts him or herself in that danger to be driving, which we sometimes have no other choice, why add the distraction of a cell phone?
In economics, the “Law of Demand” states that as something gets more expensive, people will do less of it and as something gets less expensive, people will do more of it. I think that this rule also applies to the use of cell phones while driving. If in Michigan, they decided to make a law banning the use of cell phones in the car and issued a ticket or a fine for being caught doing so, people would start to do less of it because it will start to cost them. That is the same with the seat belt law. I think that once “click it or ticket” became the law, people made sure to do it more so than if it wasn’t the law because if they just put their seatbelt on, they would not have to risk being caught unbuckled and could therefore not have to worry about getting pulled over, going to court, having to pay, and all the other issues that come up with that. The same should go for cell phone usage. If talking on the phone was illegal while driving, I would make sure not to do it since besides for the fact that it is dangerous, which is the most important fact, I know that if I were to get pulled over I would have to arrange a court date, take off from work, pay the fine, get points on my record, and more which could easily be avoided.
People relate using cell phones while driving to drunk driving. I find that very scary. Going out to the bars and getting tipsy on a Saturday night should not be comparable to talking on the phone to your spouse about dinner plans on the way to a business meeting on a Monday morning. Research shows that accident rates are four times more likely to occur with drivers who use their phones while on the road and that there is a thirty seven percent loss in brain activity being focused on the drive while talking on the phone (Hartman).
Driving could be a danger in itself due to weather problems which sometimes can not be avoided due to ice, rain, and other things. Drunk driving is also another problem that could definitely be avoided but why should the added driving distraction of cell phones be added? It is estimated that over three hundred, thirty two thousand, six hundred accidents resulting in injuries and deaths are caused as a result of cell phone usage while operating cars. Over three hundred and thirty thousand of these accidents consisted of injuries and over twenty five hundred were deaths
In conclusion, I believe that talking on the phone while driving is extremely dangerous and should be avoided as much as possible. Almost every driver is guilty of using their cell phones while operating a car at one point or another but I believe that if a law was passed prohibiting it, people would hopefully not do, or at least not as much as they have been, and we could therefore have safer roads. Just because someone decides to distract him or herself and put their life at risk, does not mean that they should be putting other people’s lives at risk as well. It’s just not safe and it’s just not worth it if it could be avoided that easily. There is no reason for a person to possibly risks theirs and other people’s lives over a phone call that’s topic of conversation is “Whats for dinner?”
Bibliography
1. http://www.ehow.com/about_5188398_accidents-caused-cell-phone-use.html
“Accidents Caused By Cell Phone Use” by David Hartman
2. http://www.drivinglaws.org/stats.php
3. The Impact of In- Vehicle Cell- Phone Use on Accidents or Near- Accidents Among College Students by Dong- Chul Seo; Mohammad R. Torabi, Journal of American College Health J of ACH, no. 3, (2004) Washington D.C.
4. http://www.slate.com/id/2223277/
