Cellphone Safety on Road

Cell Phone safety on road
Devna Mala
August-26-2013

Cell Phone safety on road
Drivers operating motor vehicle should not use cellphones while driving because it is very dangerous to the person who’s driving and those who are travelling. Cellphones are major distractions to the drivers; it gets ones full attention off the road. Cellphone usage on the road can take away peoples life in a second in a fatal crash. Cellphone use is very hazardous on the road. It is hard for drivers to keep the car in the single lane while maintaining the same speed when using the cell phone. Cellphones cause accidents and some are fatal. Some drivers do not realize the dangers of using cellphones while driving. The rate of fatal accidents are increasing in our nation.it is not only dangerous to the driver but the passengers and the pedestrians on the road. Teen drivers are ending up in fatal accidents while driving to and from schools and lack of attention to the road. We will look at some of the statistics of using cell phone while driving; find out what might be causing people to use it, and some of the ways to prevent these fatal accidents related to cell phone use.
There have been a lot of accidents that has taken lives of family members while texting or talking on the cell phone while operating a motor vehicle. National safety council estimated that at least 1.6 billion crashes occur each year due to the drivers using cellphones, and 200,000 crashes involved drivers texting each year ("National Safety Council", 2010). The center of disease control and prevention estimated that approximately 69% of the drivers in the country reported that they have talked on the phone while driving while the 31% of the driver in the nation have either texted, emailed or read the text messages within the 30 days before the research was conducted (Centers Of Disease Control And Prevention, 2013). The usage of cellphone is arising and is a huge distraction to drivers, it is killing innocent people.
Arising of new technology such as the touch screen smartphones are making cell phone use while driving more dangerous. These smartphones can do so many things that a curious driver cannot resist while driving. Touch screen phones also requires the driver to focus on the phone to type unlike the old phones with buttons. Texting are becoming more popular these days than actual calling. This is another reason that affects the cell phone use on the road. Texting is far more dangerous than calling someone because it requires the person to focus get their eyes off the road. Cell phones use overall are very dangerous and should not be used while driving.
There are many ways to prevent using the cell phone while driving. The arising number of fatal accidents can decrease radically if the drivers use other alternatives such as switching the cell phones to the safe driving mode while driving; which prevent the access to texting while driving and the message sender will receive the information that the driver is driving. This also directs the incoming calls to voicemail. There are few apps there are created by the phone companies to help prevent texting and talking while operating a motor vehicle. Technology is not necessarily a bad thing; they are also coming up with ways for drivers to communicate through cell phones but minimizing the risks. Newer vehicles are equipped with Bluetooth system in the car, which allows the driver to talk to people without having to hold the phone. Also, parents should be a role model to teen drivers while driving, avoid using cell phones. Simply the last one is to pull over if the need to use cellphone is required for any emergencies.
Using cell phone while driving is illegal. The new laws have been in place which avoids the using of cell phone while driving. New enforcement has been launched by the California office of traffic safety which reads “phone in one hand ticket in the other” ("California Office of Traffic Safety", 2007). All driver need to be follow the rules and avoid using cell phones. There is a lot of increase in fatal accidents and increase number of deaths due to usage of cell phones. We have to take these statistics to notice and prevent these accidents in future. Using cell phones while driving is not only putting the user’s life on danger, but also innocent people’s lives as well.

References
California office of traffic safety. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.ots.ca.gov/Media_and_Research/Campaigns/Phone_in_Hand.asp

Centers of disease control and prevention. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/

National safety council. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.nsc.org/Pages/NSCestimates16millioncrashescausedbydriversusingcellphonesandtexting.aspx

References: California office of traffic safety. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.ots.ca.gov/Media_and_Research/Campaigns/Phone_in_Hand.asp Centers of disease control and prevention. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/ National safety council. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.nsc.org/Pages/NSCestimates16millioncrashescausedbydriversusingcellphonesandtexting.aspx