Car Cell Phone Use Requires Responsibility Not Government Restriction

"Jen, I'm driving and I think I'm lost. Where do I turn?"

"911? I just witnessed a hit-and-run and am following the vehicle. What should I do?"

"Stay on the line."

"But..."

Cell phones are a wonderful invention. They have freed us from being tied to a certain place, freed us from long twisted cords, and freed us to communicate almost any time or place.

The availability of cell phones are credited with saving lives of those who need rescuing due to weather conditions and have been used to alert medical personal to accidents. When moments count, cell phones have made the difference between life and death.

Using a cell phone has kept many a driver alert while driving when the alternative may have been another motor vehicle accident statistic.

Cell phones help keep us in touch, and keep us from losing our way. Citizens have used cell phones to help capture criminals when they not only alerted police, but also stayed on the tail of the suspect-while on that phone.

But holding and using a cell phone while driving has become illegal in some states while others are considering restrictive legislation.

Studies purporting that cell phones use is hazardess may be correct-in certain situations. But how many of these limited studies consider the whole picture, or the long-term consequences of a law regulating personal activities while driving? Have they factored in the lives saved by cell phone use?

Some states, like Nebraska already disallows "distracted driving," which would include the use of cell phones. Why target cell phones use for further punitive action when many other activities undertaken by drivers are as or even more dangerous?

How many of us hear music blaring from cars as they pass? There is no way the drivers of these cars are going to hear a siren or a warning horn blast. How many women dab on make-up while on the way to work? And, how many parents reach to check on a crying child, even picking up a bottle or toy to hand to the child in the backseat?

How much regulation is too much? How much is your privacy worth? When governments begin to pass laws regarding the normally legal activities that may take place in your car, where will it end?

When car cell phone use is restricted or outlawed and a citizen witnesses the commission of a crime, will that citizen think twice before picking up a cell phone and dialing the police? Would the citizen who used a cell to alert police while driving also be charged with law violation?

While some legislation sounds fine on the surface, but we need to consider the long-term ramifications to our freedom and privacy-not to mention the quality of research used to pass such legislation. Maybe it is time to take responsibility for our own actions before we lose what freedom we have left.