Laws Regulating Cell Phone Use While Driving Will Help Prevent Car Accidents, Deaths

This article speaks of limiting cellular phone usage while driving on our roads. This is to minimize the amount of accidents and deaths related to cell phones. Some states have already passed such laws to regulate cellular phones while behind the wheel. Legislation is pending in other states on limiting cell phones-excluding school bus drivers, novice drivers, and only permitting the use of hands-free units while driving. In the Texas 79th Legislature Senator Rodney Ellis and fellow Democrat Representative Jose Menendez of San Antonio will consider bills for Texas restricting cellular phones to hands-free units while driving, with the exception of using cellular phones to contact emergency numbers such as 911. Menendez’s House Bill 237 will require offenders to pay fines ranging from $25-$100 outside a school zone, and $125-$200 inside a school zone. Senator Kel Selinger, R-Amarillo is looking to ban all cellular phones while behind the wheel. This has reduced fatalities in other places with a similar law by as much as 50%. Laws comparable to this bill awaiting the Texas Legislature are already in effect in states such as New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and New York. However, in New York, this law became practically useless when citizens complained of police being far too careless in enforcing this law.

David Strayer, of U of Utah’s Psychology faculty, believes Bills that ban only hand held cell phones are empty. It sends a wrong message that hands-free cellular phones are perfectly safe to use while driving; when in reality, they are just as much of a mental distraction. He refers to this as “attention blindness”; cell phones distract a driver in ways passengers in the vehicle do not. Strayer worked on a study that gave subjects the legal amount of alcohol that qualifies as being drunk, .08% and then tested them in a driving simulator. These same subjects were given the same driving test, but while sober and on a cellular phone. The study gave evidence that the subjects were in more danger while holding a sober conversation while driving and on a cell phone than while drunk behind the wheel. The Texas Dept of Public Safety has gathered data which shows increased accidents involving cellular phone usage and instances of road rage. In 2001, the number of reported cellular phone accidents jumped from 716 to 1,032. Road rage accidents have more than doubled with the statistics of 90 to 219 in the same year.

Well, this shall prove to be a very interesting rebuttal. Cell phones while driving? Can we all say “homicide/suicide pact”? I cannot say how many times I have seen people almost get sent before Saint Peter because of a lack of common sense about distracted driving. Just imagine what you would have to say: “‘I am sorry, Sir. I did not mean to smear my body across 30 feet of pavement and killing a family of six while trying to talk to my best friend on my cell phone. (ring) Could you hold on a second? I got to take this callâÂ?¦âÂ?¦.’ “I am totally cereal, folks. Is it truly worth risking death for you and everyone around you just so you can talk to someone on the phone? I hardly think so. Sure, you look cool. Okay, so you got enough friends and family who want to talk to you 24/7. All it takes is 2 seconds of distraction before you are cut out of your car by the fire department; if you are lucky. I mean, come ON kids. There is enough out there with drunk drivers, people under the influence of crack, meth, and other nice intoxicants without adding a SOBER method of killing oneself and others via an automobile.

I get ahead of myself. I fully agree on cell phone laws forbidding them to be used while driving a vehicle. Passing bills and/or legislation to keep people from using cellular phones while driving is a good idea. However, being able to enforce such a law would take a seriously massive hiring spree within local law enforcement agencies. There simply are not enough men and women in blue out there to adequately enforce the laws we currently have. New York is a good example of how complacent current police forces can be when there is not enough manpower. We need a better system to have in place before then. There are far too many people have cell phones out there in the country. It would be a nearly impossible task to enforce any law without some restrictions in cell phone sales and/or manufacturing. For instance, there could be a certain chip installed in cell phones that cause them to shut off except when 911 is dialed from the number pad when within a certain number of feet of a vehicle.

Hopefully some sort of agreement can be reached in the legislature somewhere. Hopefully, there will be a law that makes cell phone use in a moving vehicle illegal, and expensive. Yes, that’s me trying to keep a straight face while typing that. Those same laws will affect those same lawmakers, and they do not like restrictions. Since this has been proven true on other laws, cellular phone laws will not be immune. All I want is for everyone to be safe, and to enjoy what life has to offer. Forbidding cell phones while driving will not be the end of the world, folks. In fact, it might save a few thousand lives in the bargain. Is anyone’s life worth a few minutes on the phone? Is yours?

Without trying to sound like a complete fool, I will end my rebuttal with this simple message. Boys and girls, guys and dolls, think about it. We all end up being a statistic somewhere somehow. The thing is; do you want to be in that body bag, or live knowing you put someone else in one? Just like when you decide to drink, be responsible. A vehicle is nothing more than a few tons of pseudo-metal that can kill at a mere 20 miles an hour. All it takes is 2 seconds, either distracted by a cell phone or a pretty butterfly plastered to your windshield, before your life is changed forever. Think hard and long, kids. More importantly, just think.