Have you ever driven by someone who was talking on their cell phone while they drove? Or have you talked to someone on the phone while they were driving? Although cell phones are useful, they can be a distraction to those using them, especially if they're driving. In this situation, the distraction of the cell phone can have other negative consequences as well. Cell phones, when used while driving, are distracting and can cause the driver to get into an accident.
Cell phones have become even more common in society recently, and it seems like no matter what the situation, people use them, even if it may not be safe. Many people use their cell phones while driving, which can be distracting. Since people are talking on their cell phones, they tend to pay more attention to what they're saying and less attention to the large piece of machinery that has the potential of taking people's lives. A study done at Carnegie Mellon found that your brain only has a certain amount of thought processing available if you're multi-tasking. This means that the more things you're doing, the less attention each will receive. Driving needs your full attention, and something like having a phone conversation at the same time is hard because you need to be able to drive and be aware of what's going on around you and concentrate on what you're saying at the same time.
When involved in a phone conversation, people are concentrating on what the other person is saying because they aren't face to face with the person and can't read any body language. When a passenger is talking to the driver, they know what the driver is doing and can stop the conversation if the driver is in heavy traffic or merging on the highway, but someone on the other end of a cell phone conversation wouldn't know any of this. If someone is so focused in on the person they're talking to on the phone, they may not be aware of their surroundings, especially if they're driving by themselves. Due to this inattention, many accidents can be caused. Forty percent of all car accidents are the result of distractions. These accidents can occur in many forms, such as the driver may not stop soon enough, they may speed, go through a red light or stop sign, or even drift into the wrong lane. However, it doesn't matter as much how the accidents occur; what matters more is how often they occur and what results from them.
In a study published in the New England Journal Of Medicine, it was reported that using a cell phone while driving can increase your risk of getting in an accident by up to 6.5 times, which is comparable to driving with a blood alcohol content level above the legal limit of .08 . The driving habits of young people that use cell phones have also been compared to drivers over the age of 70 who do not use cell phones. This comparison was made because of increased reaction time when using a cell phone. The cell phone users were 18% slower to react to brake lights and took 17% longer to speed back up after they had braked. These statistics show that these drivers might impede traffic by not accelerating to the proper speed fast enough, in addition to possibly causing accidents by not stopping soon enough.
There are many car accidents every year, and one in every twenty involves the driver using a cell phone. Also, there are 2600 people killed every year due to these accidents, and another 330,000 injured. These car accidents have a large monetary affect as well. The cost of cell-phone-related car accidents, including damage to the cars, medical bills, and even loss of lives, is estimated at $43 billion a year. All of these damages and costs came about just because people thought that they could control a car and talk on a cell phone at the same time.
In an attempt to solve this problem, a new device was created: the hands-free cell phone. At first this appeared to be a good idea, but people began to take advantage of this new opportunity. Since the hands-free cell phones were supposed to be safer, people felt as though they could talk on the phone more often and for longer periods of time. When Dong-Chul Seo, a lecturer on applied health science, surveyed a group of college students for an article for the Journal of American College Health, he found that more of students' car accidents involved hands-free cell phones. Although this seems strange, it makes some sense when you think about how the hands-free phone is set up.
While hands free sets allow you to keep both hands on the steering wheel, the ear-bud goes directly into your ear and could prevent you from hearing things such as sirens. Also, as with regular cell phones, you still need to concentrate on your conversation. The drivers "look but don't see, because they're distracted by the conversation." The hands free aspect of the phone doesn't take away from the fact that it's hard to concentrate on what you're saying and focus on driving at the same time.
While cell phones are useful in many cases, using them when driving can cause the driver to be very distracted. Since phone conversations require a lot of attention, it's hard for people to concentrate on what they're saying and be alert to their surroundings and the driving conditions as well. This lack of attention to driving can lead to accidents, causing a lot of damage. Although cell phones can be beneficial, their use while driving is dangerous because it's distracting and can lead to accidents, putting lives in danger.