Cell Phone Usage While Driving

Who among us can ignore the beep or short ring that signals a text message has arrived? Maybe you 've rationalize like I have that you 'll wait to get to the stop light to pull the cell phone of the purse or pocket. But the eye then goes of the road. " I 'll just text a brief response while I 'm stopped at the light," I tell myself. Being of the not-born-with-cell-phone-in-hand generation, or older than 30, I 'm slow in typing the message on that itsy-bitsy screen. It 's an even greater challenge if I don 't have my reading glasses on -- I never wear them while driving. It takes two hands to type. My 20-something children can do it one handed, rarely looking at the keyboard. The light changes. I 'm almost finished. "Hurry, Hurry," I tell my self, pulling into the intersection while pressing "send". Boen,J.L. (2009, August 10). Cell phone usage while driving should be banned completely in the US do to all hazards it creates on a daily basis on US roads.
As a professional driver (truck driver) he sees it everyday, drivers with a cell phone in hand texting while driving, or on the phone talking to someone, completely unaware of their surroundings, swerving, slowing down, ten, twenty, and even thirty miles an hour from the posted speed limit, not thinking for one second the dangerous situation that they are putting themselves and others in. He doesn 't understand how can drivers despite of all the advertising campaigns on television, radio, billboards, newspapers, and magazines, drivers still go a head and use that cell phone while driving. But one of the worst thing he sees on a daily basis, is the people that are supposed to be enforcing this laws (the cops) are the first to be breaking them. Just every cop he sees driving on the road is talking on the cell phone. Wright, like they say "lead by example". Just the other day while driving on the highway as he was approaching an off ramp, he looks to the right and see a car with a young woman driving and a baby in the rear seat, she is on the phone, not looking to the left for one second to check the on coming traffic, and just as she is at the point were the off ramp meets the highways, she takes a look to the left, and realizes that she has no room to go in to the highway and has to force her self to the shoulder and into the grass, almost crashing into the trees. How can she be so careless? What kind of person puts a baby and them self in that situation?
Mansfield, S. (2000, Mar.)" A report by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that driving while using the cell phone probably is hazardous, but wouldn 't speculate how great the risk was, nor what other mitigating factors might be involve". Now the numbers are staggering, Schroeder, P., Meyers, M. & Kostuniuk, L. (2013, April) the statistics for 2011 on cell phone and driving say it 's estimated that at least 23% of all car accidents each year involves cell phone use - that 's 1.3 million crashes, 3,331 people were killed and 387,00 were injured, and in 2012, 24% of all car accidents each year involves cell phone use, 3,328 people were killed, and 421,00 were injured. With this type of statistics, and as we can see, on the rise every year, what are the law makers or the government waiting for, to establish a ban on cell phone use while driving. States have proposed bans on cell phone use while driving, for example: Excerpt by Mansfield, S. (2000, Mar.) in Arizona, a person shall not operate a motor vehicle on a highway while using a cellular telephone, a computer, headphones or earphones, excluding hearing aids or other devices for improving the hearing of the person, and any other electronic device not installed by the manufacturer an that is not essential to the operation of a motor vehicle. In Colorado, "mobile communications device" means a cellular phone, citizen 's band radio, or other device that enables a person in a motor vehicle to transmit and receive audio signals... no person shall use mobile communication device while operating a motor vehicle unless the device is specifically designated to allow hands-free operation. Like the states mention above, in 2000 there were seven more states, that propose bans on cell phones while driving and nothing has come out of this proposals.
From the year 2000 to present, the numbers on this surveys and studies that are been conducted by this government entities and private companies are still on the rise, and drivers don 't seem to want to change their habits while driving, and all the debates between state legislators don 't seem to be getting them no were, and at least for the moment don 't for see any changes in the laws any time soon. What can we, as responsible adults, and drivers do to help minimize this hazards that are been created by irresponsible drivers everyday. How can we get this so called legislators, to change their minds and finally approve bans that we so desperately need to make our roads much safer than what they are now. Have we not seen enough? How many friends, family members, families, and children, or loved ones need to be killed or affected, before someone does something about this absent minded killer. References: Boen, J.L. (2009, August 10). Ban on cell-phone usage in cars may be best for all of us.
McClatchy-Tribune Business News. Retrieve on May 31,2014 from ProQuest database. Mansfield, S. ( 2000, March). Nine States Propose Bans on Cell Phones Use While
Driving. American Radio Relay League, Inc. Vol.84 Issue3, 15. Retrieve on May
24, 2014. from ProQuest database. Schroeder, P., Meyers, M., & Kostuniuk, L. ( 2013, April). National survey on distracted driving attitudes and behaviors- 2012 ( Report No. DOT HS 811 729).
Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

References: Boen, J.L. (2009, August 10). Ban on cell-phone usage in cars may be best for all of us. McClatchy-Tribune Business News. Retrieve on May 31,2014 from ProQuest database. Mansfield, S. ( 2000, March). Nine States Propose Bans on Cell Phones Use While Driving. American Radio Relay League, Inc. Vol.84 Issue3, 15. Retrieve on May 24, 2014. from ProQuest database. Schroeder, P., Meyers, M., & Kostuniuk, L. ( 2013, April). National survey on distracted driving attitudes and behaviors- 2012 ( Report No. DOT HS 811 729). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.