Not since the invention of cigarettes has anything been so trendy, and not since the mixture of alcohol and driving an automobile has anything been so dangerous—until the invention of the cell phone. With more than 200 million cellular telephone users in the United States alone, it is more than inevitable that cellular telephone use related fatalities are going to increase. The U.S. government needs to follow the lead of other countries and formulate legislation that will regulate the use of cell phones in motor vehicles. The purpose of this research is to show that, contrary to popular belief, the use of cellular telephones while driving a motor vehicle can be one of the most dangerous and distracting habits that drivers have today. References to several studies—some controversial—and researchers that have brought forth the truth about the danger of the simultaneous use of cellular telephones and motor vehicles will be discussed.
[...] The Société de l'Assurance Automobile du Québec mailed 175,000 questionnaires to licensed drivers in response to questions about whether the use of cell phones while driving increased accident risk (Bellavance, Desjardins, Laberge-Nadeau, Lapierre, Maag, Messier, & Saidi para. 1). “This research is an epidemiological study on two large cohorts, namely users and non-users of cell phones, with the objective of verifying whether an association exists between cell phone use and road crashes, separating those with injuries” (Bellavance, Desjardins, Laberge-Nadeau, Lapierre, Maag, Messier, & Saidi para. [...]
[...] Wikipedia (2006) states: Modern mobile telephony is often considered to have started on April when Motorola employee Dr. Martin Cooper placed a call to rival Joel Engel, head of research at AT&T's Bell Labs, while walking the streets of New York City talking on a Motorola DynaTAC. (para. 4). The mobile phone was marketed in many variations, including the car phone, which was originally “designed for permanent installation in cars” (Wikipedia para. 5). Today there are dozens of wireless companies and even more telephone options. [...]
[...] Cell phones distract drivers, hands down [Electronic version]. Science News Retrieved April from http://libdata.lib.ua.edu:2048/login?url=http:// Proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?did=289789911&Fmt=3&clientId=31537&RQT=309&VNa me=PQD. Cellular-News. (2006). Countries that ban cell phones while driving. Retrieved April from http://www.cellular-news.com/car_bans. Edgar, Matthew. (2003). Hang Up And Drive? The Push to Ban Cell Phones. The Independence Institute. Retrieved April from http://www.i2i.org/main/article.php?article_id= 445. Halper, E. (2000). Pennsylvania governor targets car accidents involving cell-phone use [Electronic version]. The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved April from http:// search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&an=KRBN200009000713. Heyamoto, L. (2000). Washington state lawmaker pursues cell phones' role in car accidents [Electronic version]. [...]
[...] Edgar (2003) states: Discouraging people from carrying and using cell phones in the car ignores the overwhelming safety benefits of cell phones: people can more easily coordinate their schedules, plan driving routes, keep in touch with news events, and report traffic accidents and congested traffic. (para. 9). The remainder of the article cites cases in which people, while obeying the law, were supposedly involved in car accidents that resulted from them obeying the law. For instance, Edgar refers to an instance when a New York man “pulled over to the side of the road to answer his cell phone, which was required under a New York law; while in the shoulder of the road the man was struck by a wide truck, killing the man who obeyed the (Edgar para. [...]
[...] As of January countries had either partial or full bans on use of a cell phone when driving unless used with some form of hands-free (Cellular-News, 2006). Some of those countries include Canada, whose fines for driving with a hand-held cell phone can reach $180 U.S. dollars; Ireland, whose fines reach $380 U.S. dollars, or up to three months imprisonment on a third offense; Poland, whose fines can be as high as $1,000 U.S. dollars; or India, whose fine is prison time (Cellular-News, 2006). [...]
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