What Effects Does Cell Phone Use and Texting While Driving Have on Highway Safety?

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What Effects Does Cell Phone Use and Texting While Driving Have on Highway Safety? Since the invention of the smart phone, cell phone usage has come to include: phone conversations, sending or receiving text messages, sending or receiving emails, getting directions, looking up phone numbers, checking stock figures, searching the internet, etc. These cell phone usages by a driver creates what has been categorized as an aspect of distracted driving, in other words doing an activity while in a vehicle that takes any combination of the driver's eyes, mind, and/or hand(s) away from the task of properly and safely operating that vehicle. Each year the ownership of the cell phone increases by more and more people, many of whom have more than one cell phone with them at any given moment. This increase of ownership correlates with the thought that staying connected is a must, with that thought in any given situation comes the responsibility and safety of oneself and everyone around. This increase of ownership correlates with the thought that staying connected is a must, with that thought in any given situation comes the responsibility and safety of oneself and everyone around. The use of a cell phone while driving not only affects oneself but everyone else around. Talking on a cell phone pulls a driver's mind away from concentrating on the surrounding traffic. Matthew G. Nelson stated in 2001 that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that at any given moment there were 500,000 cell phone conversations being conducted by drivers throughout the United States. This is a staggering number of potential accidents of which is unknown just how many of these drivers had near misses. Andrea Nienstedt says that a driver talking on the cell phone goes into what is being called inattention blindness, which means they see what is happening but their
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