cell phone use

Thesis, Major Points, and Plan
Atal Neupane

Research and Writing – ENG 215
Assignment 2: Research Proposal – Thesis, Major Points, and Plan
January 22, 2014

Thesis, Major Points, and Plan
“Should regulations regarding the use of cell phones while driving be standardized?”
On December 13th 2011, the National Transit Safety Board called for a complete ban on cell phone use while driving, arguing that even hands-free phone use was distracting and dangerous. However, two weeks later, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, said he would not endorse a ban. His justification was simply that hands free cell phone use was “not the big problem in America”, which in my point of view is not an acceptable government response. The use of cell phones and texting devices is known to be dangerous both through anecdotal evidence and hard scientific fact. The National Highway Traffic Safety Association estimates that over 3000 fatalities are caused by distracted driving every year. Furthermore, an estimated one out six drivers admits to sending text messages while driving. So I do fell the regulation of using cell phones while driving should be nationwide standardized. I mean should be banned completely. I see at present time not all the 50 states can apply the rule to be banned, but there are several states that already start to do so which was a positive sign. My audience would be all the Government agencies, Law makers, Politicians, Parents, Teenagers, and all good drivers who tired of being cut off by someone who is too busy texting to pay attention to road. This chart details state cellular phone use and texting while driving laws.
Hand-held Cell Phone Use Ban: 12 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cell phones while driving.
All Cell Phone ban: No state bans all cell phone use for all drivers, but 37 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by novice or teen drivers, and 18 states and D.C. prohibit any cell phone use for school bus drivers.
Text Messaging ban: 41 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers.
6 states prohibit text messaging by novice or teen drivers.
3 states restrict school bus drivers from texting.
A couple were crossing the street when bam! A car ran a red light and struck them. The driver was talking on his cell phone. How would you feel if that was your friend or family member, that was struck down by a driver; who was more concerned with a conversation on a cell phone, than watching the road? According to Reuters, from 2001 to 2007, drivers, who were either texting or talking on their cell phone, killed an estimated 16,000 people. I, for one, think it’s a shame that so many deaths happened in that small amount of time because of something so careless. Cell phone use anywhere can be distracting, but driving while using your cell phone is potentially life threatening. More people would benefit by acknowledging this sad truth. Today I’m going to give my argument on why cell phone use while driving needs to be banned. A few reasons, but not all are; using a cell phone takes the driver's attention away from driving, causes you to be impaired both mentally, as well as physically, and can cause accidents or even death.
A driver’s attention is taken away from driving when they use their cell phone. That’s a proven fact. Statistics, on the Official US government website for distracted driving, show that drivers talking on cell phones were eighteen percent slower to react to break lights. If that statistic isn’t scary enough for you, they also give one more that definitely got my attention. Sending and receiving texts takes the driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds. That’s the equivalent of driving a football field at fifty-five miles per hour, blind. If that’s not proof enough for you, check out these facts. A driver talking on a cell phone is as impaired as a driver with a .08 blood-alcohol level. However, a driver who is texting is as impaired as a driver with a .16 blood-alcohol level. That’s double the legal limit.
Those facts lead us to our next argument, driving while using your cell phone causes you to be impaired mentally and physically. This goes hand in hand with being distracted when you think about it. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s website lists three types of distractions; visual, which is taking your eyes off the road, manual which is taking your hands away from the wheel, and cognitive, which is taking your mind off of driving. Using a cell phone, texting, and eating are a few examples of distractions the CDC provides. Texting is the most dangerous because it involves all three types of distractions. Now think for a minute before I continue, visual and manual distractions are both physical impairments and cognitive is a mental impairment. So see, driving while using your cell phone both distracts and impairs you. This deadly combination can only lead to two things, in less you’re lucky.
Accidents, Death, both things that driving while using your cell phone leads to daily. Here’s a not so fun fact brought to you by Life Science. Drivers who use their cell phone or other handheld devices are four times more likely to be involved in an accident, serious enough to injure their selves. While researching for this speech I ran across countless accident reports that involved cell phone use. One of the worst in my opinion was reported by Yahoo! News in 2011. This accident occurred on August 5, 2010, on a Missouri highway. It was a horrible pile up that injured 38 people and killed two. It was ruled that the initial accident was caused by a 19 year old pickup driver, who was one of the fatalities. The 19 year old rammed the back of a tractor trailer that had slowed for construction on the interstate, this then caused a chain reaction. Before the crash he had sent 11 messages in 11 minutes. That’s pretty scary when you think about it. You may not be the one using your cell phone, but you could still have to pay the consequences because of someone else’s carelessness.
In conclusion, using a cell phone while driving is both unsafe and could potentiality take someone's life, including your own. Distractions, impairments, accidents, and deaths are just a few reasons why cell phones should be banned while people are driving. I could give you a thousand more facts, statistics, and stories on this topic, but I won’t. I’ll leave it at this and leave you all to make up your own mind. I do have one question and one question only for you all to think about when you get in your vehicle today. Do you really want to be the reason why someone or yourself gets injured or even killed because that conversation couldn’t wait? I know I wouldn’t ever want that on my conscience. In today’s society, it has been stated that cell phones are the easiest way to communicate while on the go and that people don’t have “Time”!! One should try to incorporate their “talk/ text time” while they are not driving. If this is implemented, there would more than likely be fewer accidents, distractions, and less stressed drivers. There are several reasons why people use cell phones due to the fact that they are indeed needed whether it’s for business, or personal. Yet, if a person is driving it would have a great impact if they would pull over and use the phone accordingly. People need to be more responsible in their decision making when it comes to the use of cell phones and driving.
Britt, R. R. (2005, Febuary 1). Driver on Cell Phones Kill Thousands, Snarl Traffic. Retrieved from Live Science: http://www.livescience.com/121-drivers-cell-phones-kill-thousands-snarl-traffic.html
Fox, M. (2010, September 23). Talking to Death: texts, phone kill 16,000: study. Retrieved from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/23/us-cellphones-driving-idUSTRE68M53K20100923
Lowry, J. (2011, December 13). Driver Sent or Got 11 Texts in 11 Min before Crash. Retrieved from Yahoo! News: http://news.yahoo.com/driver-sent-got-11-texts-11-min-crash-151619850.html
Undefined. (2013, March 13). Distracted Driving in the Unites States and Europe. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/features/dsdistracteddriving/

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