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Legislators across the country know the dangers of drunken driving. They've increased criminal penalties, set up strict guidelines for offenders trying to regain their driver's licenses, and put out the message that drunken driving destroys lives.
The goal of that effort is to keep people from having a few drinks and getting behind the wheel. It's time to expect the same of people and their cell phones.
Is using the phone as serious as drunken driving? Probably not. But talking on a cell phone while behind the wheel is demonstrably dangerous, destructive and deadly.
The latest study comes from the National Safety Council (www.nsc.org), which last week called for a nationwide ban on drivers using cell phones.
The congressionally chartered organization, citing a study by the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis, estimates that cell phone use while driving contributes to 6 percent of traffic accidents. That translates to 636,000 crashes, 330,000 injuries and 2,600 deaths each year.
This is just the latest of dozens of reports on the subject. The NSC said more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific studies have identified the risks associated with cell phone use while driving.
Researchers have found that drivers on cell phones are as impaired as drunken drivers.
Whether hands-free or hand -held, whether texting to friends or returning a business call, the evidence shows that drivers just can't focus on both their conversation and the road at the same time. It's not just that cell phone users impede traffic or weave slightly from lane to lane. They also react more slowly to conditions around them.
Last month, a 40-year-old woman died in a crash in Suffolk on Holland Road while on a cell phone. She had apparently called her bank about the time of the crash, said Debbie George, a city spokeswoman.
No state currently bans all cell phone use while driving, though six states and the District of Columbia ban hand-held cell phone use.
Virginia lawmakers may be especially loath to enact such a ban, since they conduct a lot of business on the phone while driving to and from Richmond. In 2007, they did make it illegal for drivers younger than 18 to use a cell phone, but they stopped short of extending that prohibition to adults - also known as voters.
Virginia Beach Del. Robert Mathieson has introduced legislation this year prohibiting hand-held cell phone use by drivers. It's a halfway measure, but it's a start. The mounting evidence shows all cell phone use while behind the wheel compromises safety.
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cell phone stupidity
If you're going to ban cell phones while driving, you also must ban drinking and eating while driving, putting on makeup or shaving while driving, having children under 5 riding in a car while driving, using the radio while driving and everything else that distracts a driver's attention. It's more dangerous for a mother to reach into the back seat to discipline a child while zooming along the road than it is to talk on the phone. It's more dangerous for a woman to look down and reach into her purse for something than it is to talk on the phone. If you're going to ban one thing that makes it dangerous to drive, ban them all. Otherwise you're creating a vacuous and ignorant law.
Cell Phones are here to stay
Say whatever you want. Show all the statistics you want. Do all the demonstrations you want. Cell phones are here to stay. Our elected officials use them all the time, so why would they ban them? To save a few lives? To decrease medical costs caused by accidents? DUI cost all of us but drinking is not accepted by all so it is easy to condemn it as a hazard to all. BCAT Graham has first hand experience but can he/she do anything about it? NO!! Maybe we could convince the MADD mothers they need to get involved in this crisis. But that won’t work because they are driving down the road talking on their cell phone about their next meeting. Hey, be careful out there, it’s a jungle.
Really scary is dasboard computers
I am not as worried about cell phone usage as I am about computer screens in the dashboard of the new cars. Car manufactures are bragging about "internet connected" cars where you can receive and send email, search for restaurants and everything else you can do at a computer. To me that is more scary than cell phone because you have to be looking at the screen to inter act with it. It is against the law to have a TV screen where the driver can see it, why is a computer screen allowed.
Safety, yes. Traffic congestion, yes also.
The fact that it is unsafe to allow drivers to conduct telephone conversations, hands free or not, is a demonstrated fact. The fact that drivers having telephone conversations contribute to significant traffic congestion is also a demonstrated fact that I witness everytime I am on the road in this area. We want reduced traffic congestion, complain that there is no money to build new roads without tax increases, and simultaneously create untold congestion because we are too selfish to recognize that you cannot drive and talk on a cell phone without negatively affecting all those around you on the road. Wake up legislators. Put the well being of your constituents ahead of your worry about getting election contributions and ban the use of cell telephones, hands free included, while driving. It is a low cost means to really help with the traffic problems we all loathe. It just takes some guts to do the right thing. Meanwhile, how about all you drivers hanging up!
Cell Phone use while driving "IS' more dangerous than D.U.I.
1) They are Ubiquitous. Look around, every other driver has a cell phone glued to their ear. One Drunk probally for every 100 cell phone users.
2) Many, many accidents resulting from cell phone use are not being reported as such.
3) Almost 50% of cars I have pulled for suspected D.U.I are actually talking on the phone or texting.
4) Mythbusters show on Discovery Channel compared folks driving on driving course supervised by local Police Dept. Comparisons:
1-sober
2-with hands free cell phone
3-with regular cell phone
4-after drinking and blowing .08 which is below our .10 limit.
**Drunken Drivers did BETTER than BOTH cell phone groups but naturally worse than while sober.
5) Personal Experience. I know Absolutely that I cannot focus totally on Driving while using a cell phone. Anyone who says otherwise is a Liar.
It's a No-Brainer that lives will be saved.
If it's So Urgent to talk to someone, than it should be No Problem to pull over to make the call.