WHY THE USE OF CELL PHONES WHILE DRIVING SHOULD BE BANNED NATIONWIDE
There are so many distractions already in the world today, that a cell phone should be the last on the list. A cell phone is so common in this day and time, it is more common than a watch. Smart phones, cell phones, and even small tablets are often seen used on the highways while people are driving. You can often see teenagers and young adults with a phone in the hand and eyes on the screen instead of the road.
You can also see older adults chatting on a cell phone while driving, not paying attention to the road, but to the conversation at hand. The average time of taking your eyes off the road to look at the cell phone is about 5 seconds. That is as long as it would take to drive across a football field. During that time, many accidents can occur in that short period of time. The National Traffic Safety Institute stated in its report that, “In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in the U.S. because of texting and not looking over the road that distracted driving and another 448,000 were injured.” Many drivers are in a hurry, whether it be the matter of being late for work, or a family event, and so on. We can't let the everyday activities of using a cell phone while driving increase the risk of ourselves and others getting hurt or having a fatality.
60 percent of drivers use cell phones according to the Department of Transportation. That high number increases yearly with new hand held technology devices being invented and introduced to consumers. Young adults today are at a higher risk of accidents and fatalities caused by driving and using cellular devices. In 2010, 16% of fatalities were caused by teenagers.
The average age of mobile phone users while driving was 20 and under. When a teenager takes his/her eyes off the road while driving, their reaction time is equivalent to that of a 70 year old senior adult. That makes for very scary roads to travel on for anyone.
The...