Research found that 60% of cellular phone usage is done while driving. The use of cellular phones, in general, has skyrocketed recently, with more than 137 million subscribers in the United States alone (Goepel 1). In recent years, cellular phones have proven to be a key factor in the cause of many major accidents; some of which may have been prevented if there were laws in place banning the use of cellular phones while driving. Scientists have found links between cellular phone usage and traffic accidents through simulated driving. Many tests were performed by David L. Strayer of the University of Utah.
Even those Bluetooth headsets raise the potential risk of an accident. Even though a person’s hands may be free of the cellular device, he or she is still being distracted by the conversation. Cell phone usage while driving causes 2,500 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States every year. People who drive while talking on a cell phone raise the risk of an accident or death. Recent studies show that a person driving while talking on a cell phone has less awareness of the road than a person who is driving drunk.
Approximately 1.4 million accidents occur during phone conversations and two hundred thousand from texting.3 Texting drivers may be as impaired as a driver who is legally drunk. Laws should be changed or enacted to prevent senseless accidents, and unnecessary deaths. About five thousand people die annually texting while driving.3 Three-hundred thousand people are hospitalized for injuries obtained from accidents cause by phone use in the vehicle.4 Again no state in the U.S. completely bans all cellular phone use in the vehicle for all age groups.1 Without firm, enforced laws or probations regarding phone use in vehicles this issue will continue to grow worse. 1. 2012, Texting And Distracted Driving Infograaphic, retrieved on 2014, January 27, from:
However, this also proves to be a deadly distraction while using a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle. So far this year in the United States, there has been an estimated amount of over 500,000 crashes involving drivers using cell phones and texting. (Council, 2011) With the growing number of electronic devices deployed over the last decade, these new devices provide an even greater opportunity for distraction and growing the risks that are attributed to more and more crashes and fatalities. According to a study conducted at the University of Utah by Professor David Straver, drivers who talk on a
Many critiques believe that cellphones are becoming increasingly dangerous, hundreds of car crashes occur daily from cellphone usage, and many believe that cellphones can be linked to cancer and other illnesses. Hundreds of car crashes occur every day because of cellphone usage. The author Louis Francescutti in the article titled, “CAEP Position Statement on Cellphone Use While Driving” believes that cellphones are a safety hazard and a major distraction while driving. Francescutti notes that consequences of car crashes are devastating to families and all who witness the outcome; she believes car crashes caused by cellphone usage are completely preventable and causes needless injuries. Since cellphone came out in the 80’s the number of people using cellphones has “increased by approximately 40% …85% of cellphone users admitted to using their phone while driving”(Francescutti 366).She mentions that cellphones and other electronic devices are suggested to be responsible for “25% to 30%” of all crashes and says that research in
The Nationwide Insurance survey in 2007 showed approximately 73 percent of those drivers with cell phones used them while driving (Sundeen). With the distractions that people have while driving adding cell phone use just increases the chance for accidents. The 2006 State Legislative Update acknowledges that cell phone use while driving can be dangerous, and the risk for accidents high. In 1997 a research study was done by Redelmeier and Tibshirani and
There is another reason to prohibit using the cell in car is distracting people from driving. In this day there are more than 1.35 billion mobile phones, and in some countries more than half of the population own these devices. In the united states there are more than 224 million people used wireless phone while driving in 2006, when we compared that with approximately 4.3 million in 1990, according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. there is a danger associated with driving and using a cell-phone. Even though, people know those affects, they continue to use it.
Putting not only their lives in danger, but oncoming traffic as well that may be carrying valuable contents like children in the vehicle. According to AAA foundations for traffic safety there are the following facts about distracted driving. Drivers spend more than half their time behind the wheel engaged in distracted behavior. More than 8,000 crashes a day are caused by distracted driving, the use of a cell phone while driving quadruples the risk of an accident occurring. 87% of drivers (including myself), agree with laws put into place against reading, typing, or texting while driving behind the wheel.
The general public continues to text throughout the day, regardless of the individuals actions at that time. Text messaging while driving has become a typical cause for car accidents among drivers today. According to studies orchestrated by the National Safety Council (NSC) and published on the NSC website at www.nsc.org, “1.4 million crashes each year involve drivers using cell phones and a minimum of 200,000 additional crashes each year involve drivers who are texting” (www.nsc.org). What these assessments show is how much more distracted drivers are by texting while driving, resulting in avoidable car accidents. This is just one way text messaging is negatively impacting society.
To engage ourselves in a construcive work, we have started a campaign to spread awareness about accidents related to cell phones and driving. In the reference material attached to this letter, you can see various newspapers cuttings and photographs that highlight the gravity of the situation. In the year 2008 alone, nearly 6,000 American residents lost their lives because of accidents related to a cell phone use while driving. Moreover, car crashes and texting via cell phones while driving have been related more closely in recent years. Cell phones usage while driving has been rated to be far more dangerous than drunk driving, which highlights the dangers of using cell phones when we are commuting from one destination to the other.