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Hang up your cell phone and drive
By Sarah West
October 19, 2005 | This summer, while driving on I-80
in Salt Lake City, my friend and I almost got in an
accident. We were in the far left lane while a woman,
on her cell phone, was next to us. She seemed rather
engrossed in her conversation when I noticed her veering
into my lane. I immediately slammed on my brakes and
attempted to get over in the shoulder to avoid being
hit. The woman didn't even notice what she had done,
as she obliviously sped off. Apparently whomever she
was talking to was more important than paying attention
to the road.
A few years earlier, my friend and I were getting
off a busy exit. She was on her cell phone and rear-ended
the car in front of us. She immediately hung up the
phone in hopes that the car she'd rear-ended hadn't
noticed she'd been on the phone. Luckily no major damage
or injuries occurred, but this is just another instance
proving that talking on cell phones when driving has
been detrimental to the driver's ability to focus on
the road.
Cars can be extremely dangerous to begin with, causing
42,000 deaths each year in the United States in auto
accidents. But add to the mix a cell phone, distracting
drivers and taking their mind and eyes off the road,
and there exists a very dangerous situation. The National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports driving
while on cell phones causes at least a quarter of all
crashes. The NHTSA also stated that at any given moment
of the day 500,000 drivers of passenger vehicles are
talking on handheld cell phones.
Because of the increase in cell phone ownership, the
number of accidents related to cell phone use while
driving will continue to go up. Cell phone distraction
causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries every year
in the United States alone, according to the journal
Human Factor.
University of Utah psychology professor David Strayer
says, "If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel
with a cell phone, their reaction times are the same
as a 70-year-old driver who is not using a cell phone."
Strayer and his colleagues also discovered that "chatty
motorists are less adept than drunken drivers with blood
alcohol levels exceeding 0.08."
Cell phones themselves aren't the danger. But it's
the danger they bring when someone is trying to operate
a vehicle and talk on the phone at the same time. A
study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found
those using hands-free cell phones were just as much
at risk for distraction than those using hand-held cell
phones. Even though driver's hands wouldn't be holding
the phone, their minds would be on the conversation,
not on the road.
At least 40 countries have prohibited or restricted
talking on cell phones while driving. New York has implemented
a restriction on cell phone use while driving, so why
haven't more states followed in its steps? The hazard
is there and state legislatures should do something
about it. Perhaps they think the convenience of cell
phones outweighs the risk. Whatever the reason, they
need to re-evaluate what they think is important: the
convenience of technology, or the safety of their citizens.
Cell phones can be beneficial, however they need to
be used in a safe environment which, despite popular
belief, isn't in a moving car. Cell phones can be used
to inform others of accidents, help you in emergency
situations, get directions when lost and many other
occasions. But the next time you're driving and your
cell phones rings, don't answer if the call can wait
to be taken. If you do need to answer, pull over a safe
distance away from traffic. Better yet, if there's a
passenger in the car with you, let them do the talking
so you can concentrate on what you should be in the
first place; the road.
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