Driving WIth Cell Phones

Driving with Cell Phones

Sitting in a car at a red light can be an illuminating experience. While waiting for the light to turn green, observe the cars that drive by. Notice a trend? Many of the drivers who pass are as interested in their cell phone conversations as they are their driving. Thousands of Americans die every year from cell phone-related car accidents. Cell phones have become essential in today’s society because they are very convenient, relatively inexpensive, and effective. People are using them in all sorts of places—schools, stores, and even the workplace. However, the problem is that cell phones have started to make an impact on the highways as well. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 85% of all cell phone customers are using them while driving, meaning most people on the road have one hand on their cell phone and the other hand on the steering wheel (Associated Press). This kind of multitasking is quite dangerous and deserves greater attention. We should encourage the use of hands-free devices while driving because doing so will alleviate some of this danger.

In Driver’s Education courses across the nation, instructors teach students to drive with two hands, one at 10 o’clock and the other at 2 o’clock, that way they can have full control of the vehicle. Well, the rules of Driver’s Education appear to have flown right out the window. It is often witnessed that most people drive with one hand on the steering wheel rather than two, but recently, what has also been frequently observed, is that the other hand is not being used to shift gears, but to hold a cell phone to one’s ear. NHTSA speculates that, at any given moment of the day, 500,000 drivers are talking o...

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