by James Smith

Created on: September 16, 2007   Last Updated: May 28, 2011

I was stopped at the intersection and about to proceed when her car came barreling down the road in the opposite direction oblivious to the sign in front of her that beckoned her to stop. She was too distracted, holding her cell phone to her ear while laughing and talking, to care about the danger of her actions. I quickly glanced to my right and left and breathed a sigh of relief that no cars were about to intersect her path as she came driving through the stop sign and intersection of traffic and moved on.

The distracted lady driver that I just mentioned had one hand on the steering wheel, one hand holding her cell phone to her ear, and her attention devoted to the communication of the person on the other end of the conversation. She dodged an accident at this intersection but what about her chances at the next traffic light or stop sign? Hopefully, she will have ended her cell phone conversation by then.

As I moved through the intersection with the danger now passed, I continued to think about what I knew concerning the relationship between cell phone use and automobile accidents. I considered the many different studies that have found that driver inattention is a major cause of automobile accidents. In addition, a recent study released in April 2006 entitled The 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study, (conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) , found that almost 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds of the event.

I also knew that motorists who use cell phones while driving are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (according to a July 2005 study of drivers in Perth, Australia, conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety).

The behavior of cell phone users in automobiles and the resulting distraction which results in danger to the driver and everyone else on the road requires government action for everyone's protection. Many states in America appear to be receiving that message. Consider that in May 2007, Washington State become the first state to ban the practice of texting with a cell phone while driving. Washington State also joined New York, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, Connecticut, and (beginning in 2008) California in outlawing the practice of speaking on a hand-held cell phone while driving. These American states join as many as forty countries worldwide that restrict or prohibit the use of cell phones while driving.

As I arrived at my driveway, I wondered about the lady in her car with the cell phone in her ear who had been so distracted that she had driven through the intersection without stopping. I hoped she had completed her journey without incident. I then considered what California and several other states had done and nodded in agreement. Banning cell phone use in automobiles, is something that should be done, because the distraction of the cell phone to the driver becomes a danger to us all.

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