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| Yes | 69% | 3429 votes | Total: 4978 votes | |
| No | 31% | 1549 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesOperating a cell phone is a dangerous distraction, which compromises the safety of motorists, their passengers and other road users. Impulsiveness and accessibility are the only reasons that can be given for it.
As a professional driver of twenty years I have observed the dire consequences of some of the most brain numbing acts by inattentive drivers including breakfast cereal on the highway, map reading with the directory balanced on the steering wheel and of course the lippy and rouge makeover en-route to the office. (usually a bent bumper and a very red face)..
All of these pale to insignificance alongside the deadly cell phone antics. It is bizarre that despite countless threats by the police to penalize by demerit and heavily fine offenders the practice continues. No amount of fatal accidents attributed to this selfish act it seems can deter it. Statistically speaking, those who continue to mindlessly crisscross traffic at high speed with a phone glued to their ear, will write their own epitaph.
These days, technology enables the cell phone to auto answer or engage a voice mail which on receipt of a message alerts the recipient with an audible tone. If curiosity warrants responding to the call it takes seconds to safely pull over and attend to it. No call is so urgent that it justifies risking lives and it is an occupational health and safety hazard that any business can ill afford.
In my home state, cell phone use has been banned even as a hands free device while driving. It must be understood particularly by the indestructible youth that a cell phone is not a fashion statement, but merely another appliance to make life easier. Unlike so many others it doesn't come with a label which reads "Misuse of this product can kill!" It should , because it does!
Learn more about this author, Leonard J Sherrott.
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No
Absolutely not! One of the pre-requisites of obtaining a drivers license is being able to successfully keep your attention focused on several things at once, traffic congestion, road conditions, pedestrians on the sidewalks, and even that cat crouched by the tire of that parked car. Talking on a cell phone is a lot less distracting than the kids fighting in the back seat and a lot more predictable than say stray animals wondering down the road. What are they going to try to ban next taking more than one child with you at any given time? Granted 50 years ago, no one imagined that we would be able to drive and talk on the phone at the same time, but times change. With changing times comes adaptation. The answer is not a law penalizing everyone for a few idiots that can't seem to multitask just two items.
Those that do get in accidents because they can't manage to hold a phone to their ear and drive at the same time are probably the same people that would eventually get in an accident anyway because they are putting makeup on, shaving or even getting dressed on the way to work. If you look at the ratio of people that talk on the phone and don't get in accidents vs. the number of people that talk on the phone and do get in accidents it will probably be a hell of a lot lower number than the same type of ratio calculation of non-drunk drivers vs. drunk drivers. With that said; if our DUI laws aren't keeping people from driving drunk why should we adopt yet another law that we can't enforce and will most definitely be broken?
The thing about statistics is they can be bent to suit any view point. Those giving the statistics don't tell you they are bending them because they want to control your thought process and lead you in the direction they want you to go. Let's think about those statistics of accidents that are supposedly cell phone related. How many accidents were because the driver truly allowed the cell phone to distract them: a) drop it and reach to pick it up; b) focus on the key pad too long (remember when you took the drivers license test? Part of the test was i believe to not take your eyes off the road more than 3 seconds) and how many of the accidents were related to some other distraction and they unfortunately just happened to be on the phone: a) dog ran out in the road; b) was looking for the cheapest gas station; c) missed your turn; d) gawking at by-standers. Those people gathering the statistics they just hear CELL PHONE, they don't hear what may have been the real cause or that you were even using a headset of some sort.
But let's not forget who else may be in part responsible for a few of the accidents where the cell phone should not have been being used; like checking email, getting on the internet, text messaging, playing games. Why do we need that on our cell phones? At most it should only be on the really high-end phones that are most likely to be used as a real business tool, by business people that actually do have self-control, rather than as a cool gadget to check out on the way home.
When one gets in an accident the officers, insurance claims representatives, ect are trained to get information out of you as a witness or a victim without you knowing the answers you are giving may hinder you or someone else in someway. I'm not disagreeing with this tactic in fact I'm for it, that sometimes is the only way to get the truth.
This nation was founded on hard working, self-thinking, self-disciplined people. Over time we have evolved into a nation of:
1. lazy people that looks for the easy way out. Rather than severely punish those responsible for cell phone related accidents, lets just ban them.
2. non-thinking people that relies on our governments to tell use what we should be capable of doing.
3. people with no discipline and no regard for safety for them-selves or others. This refers to those that know they can't safely talk and drive at the same time but insist on doing it because the law hasn't instructed me otherwise.
We as a nation will never accelerate in anything if we are constantly lowering expectations because a few people can't seem to manage. If we follow that trend line give it a couple hundred years and we will all be living in caves again.
Learn more about this author, S Barrow.
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