Cell Phones: Usage While Driving Should Be Prohibited

Kristin Gebel
Week 7 –blog
27 June 2007

We can all remember times when we have passed vehicles and found the drivers more involved in their conversations over the phone rather than their driving skills. These situations are potentially dangerous not only to the driver, but to everyone else who is driving on the same side of the street. For this specific reason cell phones should be prohibited while driving.

There is a long list of things that could potentially cause a car accident. By prohibiting cell phone usage while driving we would be taking one of those things off of the list. The first essay in the casebook said “we killed 120 kids and small-stature women with airbags and we killed 150 people with Firestone tires” (542). With both of these examples there were government issues taken into affect. Why can we not have a government say to prevent the use of phones while driving? It may not be much, but it may be just enough to save the life of a loved one. According to Robert W. Hahn and Paul Tetlock it would only work out to be roughly one percent less of the annual total of accidents (544). That one percent may not mean much, but what if someone told you that, that one percent represented a close neighbor, a best friend or even a close family member. Then would that one percent make an impact on your decisions?

There are still going to be car accidents occurring and there is nothing to prevent that, but take an obstacle such as cell phones out of the mix and we might be able to reduce the number of accidents. A great example of this can be seen in the first essay from the case book when Mark Burris of the University of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research, mentioned that “in November, Japan became one of the 14 countries to ban handheld phone use while driving.” This made the number of accidents caused by the use of a mobile phone, to drop 75 percent in the next month (542). This is huge. If by banning cell phones while driving could prevent 75 percent or even 50 percent of accidents caused by phone use, we would still better off than the present.

Now do not get me wrong, cell phones are “important devices for reporting emergencies” (542). Emergency calls should be made from stopped vehicles and in most circumstances witnesses calling in the crash are in traffic that has been stopped. This type of cell phone use is important and should be maintained. If someone needs to talk on the cell phone while driving they should pull the vehicle over to the side of the road to talk or they should not use the phone until they are parked. This way they are not only saving themselves from being in an accident, but they are also looking out for everyone around them.

Cell phones can be dangerous technology when used in the wrong situations. To prevent automotive accidents caused by cell phones, the government should place a ban on talking over the phone while driving. We know it is not going to prevent the majority of the accidents, but this is the first stepping stone to ending some of the accidents that could have been prevented. Let’s save that one percent that just might be someone close to you.