Cell Phones While Operating A Motor Vehicle

People catch up with friends by means of text messaging or voicemail, read and reply to e-mails, set up or cancel appointments on their calender, Google their favorite song, play electronic games, read daily horoscopes, check bank account balances, and use GPS to map where they are going. Each of these activities can be achieved on the modern day cell phone and in a matter of seconds. Should this be justified while driving? After all, only thirty states, out of the fifty that contribute to create the United States of America, ban text messaging while operating a motor vehicle. There is not one state that bans all cell phone usage to drivers.
Eleven of the thirty states, that banned text messaging while driving, only enacted their laws in 2010. Is it really progress that only eight states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington) outlaw the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving?
It is extremely important to pay attention while driving. Distractions while conducting a motor vehicle can be life-threatening. It merely takes a second for a driver to slam on their brakes to avoid a possible accident, hitting an animal or perhaps even worse- someone's child. In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives we are consumed with getting from one place to another; during this process we attempt to accomplish as much as possible. Being accustomed to a convenient lifestyle welcomes the stress of responding quickly and the pressure to keep up with technology combined with everyone's expectations. These type of calls should “wait until the customer is safely parked on the side of the road, or out of their cars.” (Kelsey)
At the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center it has been found that talking on a cell phone while driving, you are four times more likely to be in a crash. Research says that it can be the same risk as if being in a crash with a drunk driver. Drivers are allowing their attention to be split, it is not necessarily holding the phone, but it is your mind and focus being diverted elsewhere.
Statistics show that sixty-one percent of the twenty-eight million Verizon subscribers use their cell phones purely for personal reasons. (Cronkleton) In 2009, a study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis estimated six percent of vehicle crashes, causing about 2,600 deaths and 12,000 serious injuries a year, are attributable to cell phone use. The Congressional Chartered National Safety Council's president and chief executive, Janet Froetscher opines “It's not just what you're doing with your hands- it's that your head is in the conversation and so your eyes are not on the road.” (FoxNews.com)
So where are the modern conveniences this amazing technology of tomorrow is taking us? Is it consuming our world to the point where we are risking our lives and the lives of others in daily traffic? There must be a change, an awareness, to be in the moment of the driver's seat and not elsewhere. Accepting responsibility is a huge part of the awareness that needs to take place, meaning that driver's need to take ownership while in transit. It is agreed by the Governors Highway Safety Association that dangerous driving can take place while on a cell phone. The task is ridiculously challenging to enforce a ban on drivers using cell phones, when drivers will not admit they have been on the phone in the first place! The likelihood of the drivers who are in accidents, even with fatalities involved, are scared to speak the truth of how the accident occurred.