Cellphones

Cell Phones Use Should be Banned While Driving On February 4 2002, a driver of a Ford Explorer lost control of his vehicle while commuting on a Washington highway and hurtled passengers in the minivan with which it collided were killed over a guardrail into oncoming traffic. The driver of the SUV and four unsuspecting passengers in the minivan with which it collided with were killed (“Car Accident”). Until this accident, federal investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had never “identified use of a cell phone as a possible factor” in a fatal automobile crash (“Car Accident”). Many of us, the driver or passenger, have witness someone who is driving unevenly as they try to use a cell phone. Visiting many big cities, I have witness drivers weaving in and out of traffic as they talk or text on their cell phones. Unsafe driving like this can be scary, more so when a young child or infant is seated in the back of the vehicle. With lives on stake, the drivers, passengers and other cars on the road, cell phone use should be banned while driving. One may ask how dangerous is it to use a cell phone while driving. Many opinions differ. Safety advocates feel that using a cell phone in cars should be banned. A California Highway Patrol report found that “some 4,700 accidents in 2001 could be traced to a cell phone use while driving….Of those accidents, 31 people died and close to 2,800 people were hurt” (Bell). Federal investigator Dave Rayburn, the NTSB agent in charge of the February 4, 2002 case, reported “Some of the issues we are looking at are the fact that the explorer crossed the median and the barrier. The other is cell phone use. Witnesses said the victim was on a phone conversation at the time of the crash” (“Car Accident”) When cell phones become a major part of our world during the 1990s, researchers have contemplated what the impact is that cell phones have on driving. One study has linked the use of the cellular device