24 of 270

Yes

Write now Article Tools

Researchers have discovered that cell phones are distractions that cause an increase in the number of car accidents. Statistics show that the risk of a car accident is the same for both driving under the influence and talking on a cell phone.

The most publicized study was conducted in Canada that involved over 700 drivers. Sanctioned for accuracy by the New England Journal of Medicine, the study interviewed drivers that owned cell phones and were involved in a car accident. More than half of the drivers were on the phone at the time of the accident.

Like it or not, cell phones have become a pervasive and some would say indispensable part of our culture. They are such an integral part of our lives that it's a wonder of evolution that they aren't attached to a newborn's ear. We use them for business, casual conversation and in emergencies. The question remains, however, if we should be on the phone while we negotiate traffic.

If my recent experience is any indication, I fervently say the time has come to ban cell phone use while driving a car. I sat at a busy intersection behind a person that was talking on her phone. She missed at least three opportunities to merge into traffic before one of the drivers behind sounded their horn. The startled woman immediately floored the gas and blindly pulled into the flow of traffic, where she narrowly missed broad siding another car.

Once the facts finally come out about the impact cell phones have in creating a danger on our roads, I surmise they will be regulated on a state-to-state basis like alcohol. And the cacophony of protestations will be as strong from Motorola as it currently is from Anheuser-Busch on the alcohol issue. New York seems to be the state closest to permanently banning cell phone usage while driving a car.

We don't need more burdensome rules and regulations to clog up an already bloated government bureaucracy. We just need some old-fashioned common sense that mandates that talking on a cell phone and driving a car are not even close to being plausible simultaneous operations. Most of us can't even get the driving part right sans the distractions.

But common sense has left the American culture faster than an Elliot Spitzer news conference. It was only a matter or time before people that ate food and applied mascara while driving started pushing up our insurance rates by gabbing mindlessly on a cell phone in the middle of a busy rush hour. The preponderance of ignorance necessitates that statues be passed banning

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Should cell phone use be banned while driving??
We want to hear your view. Write now!