Cellphone Driving the Dangers of Using a

Cellphone Driving The Dangers of Using a Cell Phone While Driving Statistics connecting cell phone usage with dangerous driving have becoming increasingly readily available. Evidence suggests that cell phones cause drivers to become distracted, to move their eyes off the road and, ultimately, to endanger their lives and the lives of other motorists. With the advent of texting and emailing by smartphone, these risks are even greater.

In spite of this, the United States remains resistant to impose federal legislation that would make it illegal, nationwide, to use a cell phone while driving. Given the evidence relating cell phone use and dangerous driving, there is a strong imperative for the development and passage of distracted driving laws on the national level. The strongest argument in favor of such a law is the clear and irrefutable evidence denoting the danger of driving while using a cell phone.

In fact, an article by Richtel (2009) equates driving while using a cell phone to driving while intoxicated. According to Richtel, a person using a cell phone is four times more likely to cause an accident, a risk index equivalent to that of a person with a .08 blood alcohol level. Richtel further reports that driving while using a cell phone has been the attributed cause to an estimated 2600 traffic deaths and 330,000 accidents overall annually. (Richtel, p.

1) In spite of these figures, Richtel reports that "the federal government warns against talking on a cellphone while driving, but no state legislature has banned it. This year, state legislators introduced about 170 bills to address distracted driving, but passed fewer than 10." (p. 1) This denotes that the federal government is fully apprised of the dangers of cell phone usage while driving but that few in its lawmaking bodies are prepared to take the potentially unpopular steps of turning this acknowledgement into binding legislation.

However, according to a recent survey published by Nationwide (2013), most motorists have come increasingly to accept that there are associated dangers with the use of a cell phone behind the wheel. As such, many are actually in favor of more restrictive laws. According to Nationwide, "8 in 10 drivers support some type of cell phone usage restriction. The majority of respondents say they are supportive of laws restricting any type of cell phone use while driving." (Nationwide, p.

1) This is good news for legislators who have otherwise been apprehensive to move forward with meaningful regulations. Additionally, most respondents indicated that they would support a total ban on texting while driving. In recognition of the distinct danger of this behavior, a number of states have been successful in passing laws making this illegal. This denotes that there is a template for restricting the nature of cell phone usage behind the wheel.

And on a federal level, the template for this type of legislation is actually provided by a wide array of nations. According to Hanson, in fact, the United States is one of the very few.