Cell phone use while driving

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Cell Phone Use while Driving While driving, you hear a recognizable voice, it is the ringtone of your phone, and someone is calling you. You try reaching the phone, but it seems not to be where you kept it. You continue searching for it while you try keeping an eye on the road still not finding it. The phone is still ringing but when you find it, it is already a missed call. You decide to return the call. You start dialing the number at the same time trying to focus on the road. Does this ring a bell in your mind? Cell phones are very important in communication but using them whilst driving is extremely risky and can bring severe effects not only to the driver, but also to many other people. It should be banned completely and laws put in place to restrict drivers from using their phones when driving since it brings adverse effects to the driver, and other road users. In the U.S. it is estimated that 70 to 90 % of drivers use their cell phones while driving. Nowadays, cell phones are most popular devices of communication in the world today. They are owned by nearly everybody from teenagers to adult. There are many reasons as to why using mobile phones while diving is very dangerous. Firstly, is that cell phones are a distraction to the brain. The brain is programmed to concentrate on one thing at a time and when forced to concentrate on two things at a go, it is distracted. A driver can be distracted either physically or cognitively. Physically whereby he/she has to pick or dial the phone at the same time operate the vehicle and cognitively, where the driver has to divert part of his/her attention from the driving to the phone. This is very dangerous because when the driver is distracted, it can lead to an accident since their conc... ... middle of paper ... ...e the many lives being lost on our roads. Drivers should think twice before picking up a phone call, texting or making a call before they put their lives and the lives of other road users in danger. In addition apart from enforcing restrictions on the use of mobile phones while driving, hand held phones can be replaced by hand-free phones if one has to pick a call while driving. Works Cited Strayer D. L. and William J. A. (2001). "Driven to distraction: Dual-Task Studies of Simulated Driving and Conversing on a Cellular Telephone.". Psychological Science 6 (12), 462–466 Hancock, P.A., Lesch, M., & Simmons, L. (2003). The distraction effects of phone use during a crucial driving maneuver. In: Accident Analysis and Prevention, 35(4), 501-514. Violanti, J. M. (1998). Cellular phones and fatal traffic collisions. In: Accident Analysis and Prevention, 30(4), 519-52

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