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| Yes | 69% | 3406 votes | Total: 4948 votes | |
| No | 31% | 1542 votes |
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Add to FavoritesAs a police officer one of my duties is traffic control. Yeah, I'm the guy out there with the white gloves and the whistle and the orange vest, moving the iron through the intersection. Fortunately, I work the same intersection at the same times of day and mostly with the same commuters, so we are all fairly familiar with each other and the routine. Early on I learned to spot the dangerous drivers as they would approach my intersection: The girl tuning her radio, the guy with his buddies in the car revving the engine, the fellow pushing the envelope because he was late for work or maybe because he had just had an argument with the wife, or the lady with the frosted windshield.
If you are to survive doing traffic control you need to be alert and on your toes at all times, but when I see one of the drivers I have described above, I am extra alert. Usually it takes an extra blast or two on the whistle to get their attention so that I can stop, move or turn them. But at least I CAN get their attention.
My traffic control duties usually run during the rush for about a half an hour in the morning and another half hour in the afternoon. On any given day I may have a half dozen or so "Miscommunications" with drivers and at least seventy five percent of these involve drivers who are talking on their cell phones. I have never been able to figure out what is so interesting on the floor on the passenger side that most cell phone drivers seem to always down gaze at, but at least it is a posture that I can see coming. When one of these "Talkers" approaches my intersection I always do my best to just get them through and away from me and the rest of the drivers. Any attempt at having them do anything that deviates from whatever they have pre-programmed themselves for will run a high risk of creating a "Miscommunication"
I have also investigated a good number of traffic accidents that involved drivers using their cell phones. As often as not it takes a witness to come forward to get this information as the errant drivers themselves will seldom admit it. A typical example was an accident I investigated about a month ago where a teen aged girl was texting on her cell phone and missed a curve in the road and ended up in a barrow ditch. As she was tearfully explaining to me that she didn't know why she had run off the road her cell phone rang. It was her friend wondering why she had hung up on her all of a sudden. A full confession followed shortly thereafter. I am quite sure that the actual number of traffic accidents caused by inattentive (cell phone) driving is far greater that that we have been able to document.
It is much easier for an officer to blame cell phone use on red light and stop sign violations as when we take enforcement action on these we can often see the violator talking on the phone as they breeze through the intersection. I can't even begin to count the number of weaving drivers I have pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving only to find that they are talking on their cell phones. Unlike those who have been involved in accidents, these drivers are always more then glad to claim sobriety and blame the cell phone for their driving.
Whenever anyone decides to drive a motor vehicle the operation of that vehicle should be their number one priority. Once they decide that talking on their cell phone is at least as improtant as their driving they become a danger not only to themselves, but to all of those around them.
Many studies have been conducted on the dangers of cell phone use while driving and the majority of them have shown that it substantially increases the dangers of driving. I have not referred to any of these studies in this essay but have only tried to establish a basis for my answer which is based upon my personal observations and experiences. And so, to answer the question:
Should cell phone use be banned while driving? Hell yes...
Learn more about this author, Bart Ringer.
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No
I love my cell phone and most people do. Cell phones make it easy to contact our friends and loved ones in case of an emergency. Cell phones make our jobs easier by helping us get in contact with people we work with almost immediately. Cell phones are definitely a big part of our society and are not going away any time soon.
Banning cell phone usage while driving would be like banning a person from tuning their radio while driving, lighting a cigarette, or adjusting the temperature of the air conditioner or heater. All of these things most drivers do on a daily basis.
These days we see people following their printed Google maps to their destination, we see people looking at their GPS to guide them, and we see people who, unfortunately, just don't pay attention. Should we ban those things too? Are we going to have to ban people who just don't look where they're going from driving their car eventually too?
There are proper methods of cell phone usage while driving. There has been a lot of strides made in the "hands free" department. People are able to set their cell phone on a charger or us a special made kit and talk through a loud speaker which would not be any different than talking to the person beside you if you're carrying a passenger. Most cell phones made today have speaker settings on them so you can hear the person you're talking to loud and clear without having to hold the phone to your ear. We also have blue tooth wireless headsets and wired headsets which allow a person to set their phone down, utilize the headset and keep their eyes on the road.
We are always going to have people that don't concentrate on the task at hand. We are always going to have people who are digging around in their car looking for something instead of paying attention to the traffic ahead. We are always going to have people who just don't pay attention. If we are going to ban cell phone usage while driving, then maybe we should just ban driving all together and lets make every one walk where they need to go. Imagine how many accidents we could prevent by doing that. We could also take the cars away and let every one ride their bikes to work, to their vacation destination, or to the park.
This country has had issues with drunk driving or driving under the influence of mind altering drugs for many years. Even though the laws have changed to help our law abiding citizens, its still not enough to keep the "bad guys" off of the road. Plenty of people go out after a good party, get in their cars and drive home and some end up killing people. Cell phone usage is a lot safer than driving under the influence. People are still going to use their phones as they please and the only difference is, they'll just be looking around every bend to see if the police are sitting in the medium waiting to pull them over - much like speeders which also cause accidents.
Learn more about this author, Scott Wolfe.
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