Driving into Cellular Madness

As time goes on, technology keeps advancing. When all of this new technology comes into play most people adapt to the situation. Cellular phones have been one of the longest-running crazes in America. There are many options that come on cell phones besides the normal calling feature. Cell phones can be used almost everywhere you go on a day to day basis. This means cell phones can be used while driving too, that is, where the law permits them to be used. There are many laws in place today that limit our use of cell phones is motor vehicles. These laws are in place due to the many wrecks and fatalities caused by cellular use while driving. Driving requires all of your attention and you cannot hold a phone, talk to someone, and pay attention to the road at the same time effectively. There have been many studies done that have proven driving to be impaired while talking on a cell phone. In some cases, people drove better after a glass of alcohol than when talking on the cell phone (Sturnquist).

Cell phones run off of a signal that is bounce between satellites across America (Wikipedia). They allow us to connect with our family, friends, and coworkers everyday. There are many functions that come on a cell phone. These functions include things like calling, text messaging, internet, email, and instant messaging. The main features that are used today are calling and texting. While calling is just as dangerous, text messaging seems to be a major problem in our society today. Wikipedia defines text messaging as a term referring to the exchange of brief written messages between mobile phones. This function requires more of your attention than just having a conversation on the phone. When you text someone you are required to look at the screen at some point to read what the other person says to you and also to type to the other person. This takes complete focus off of the road.

In many people's everyday lives, they do not think about the dangers involved in talking on their phones and hitting the open road. These people may be thinking too much about their wife that they are talking to and asking about the kids. They may also be thinking too much about where they are going with the friend they have on the other end of the line. They are definitely not thinking about the kid trying to cross the street to catch up with his brother, who darts across the road right in front of them. Whether they meant to hit the kid or not, it is their fault. It only takes one second of someone not paying attention to take someone's life away. If all of your attention is not focused on the road, you run the risk of anything darting in front of you. You also run the risk of other drivers around you, that aren't paying complete attention, running into you. Many people just fail to realize how distracted their driving becomes when talking on their cell phones.

Many studies have been done to try to prove that driving is impaired when talking on a hand held cell phone. One of these studies took twenty experienced drivers between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five. The subjects had to run trials on a driving simulation machine. Each subject was set up to do a normal trial run on this machine on one day. Then on a separate day they were set up to do a run while talking on a hand-held cell phone. Another day they would set them up for simulation with a hands free cell phone. Then on the last day the participants were set up to drink an eight ounce glass of alcohol (%40 alc. Vol.) and then run a trial. It was found in this experiment that when driving and talking on a hands free and hand held cell phone, drivers were much slower in reaction times and in driving speeds (Sturnquist). These drivers were a little distracted and could not focus all of their attention on the road. The hands free and hand held phone simulations both had the same results because the conversations were distracting them in the studies and not the phone itself.

I have had many experiences in life that pertain to driving distracted. Whether it was me, my mother, or my little sister, I have seen distracted driving up close and personal. I have not caused any dramatic accidents but I have noticed myself swerve a little when I went to answer my phone on one or two occasions. I have also had people on cell phones swerve into my lane, almost crashing into me, while I am out driving. My mother had an obsession with her phone for some time and it did not break until she ran into my car in the driveway. She was getting into her car and answering her phone when she backed into my car that was right behind hers. She did this two more times before she finally quit talking while driving. I may not be able to get a hold of her very often now, but she has not wrecked lately either. My little sister has just turned eighteen years old and she loves her phone very much, as well. She is one of those people, like me, that love to text. She, unlike me, has wrecked two of her cars because she was text messaging her friends while she was driving. She hit a pole that was in a ditch with one of these cars. In the other car she rear ended another car. One Buick, and one Grand Am later she is a bit more focused. We realize that we cannot get so caught up in our own lives that we forget about the world around us. We realize that we are driving and could be endangering many lives when we are out there on the road.

When driving, you have to focus all of your attention on the road. There are many aspects of the road that can come as a surprise. A deer could jump out in front of your car in some areas. People may dart out in front of your car in some situations. There are other drivers out there and they may not be paying attention either. These same types of drivers are the ones that Mark Lane wrote about for the News Journal. Mark wrote an article about many drivers that he noticed passing by and nearly hitting him on the side of the road. Mark was riding his bike near the Tomoka State Park entrance and passing cars would swerve at him. Upon his closer observation he noticed that they were on cellular phones (Lane). This seemed to be the cause of the near misses. The cell phones, themselves, are not the real issue, but the conversations are what take our attention away. If our minds were not on other things we may have noticed the red light we just blew through. Perhaps we might have avoided the median we just ran over if we did not answer that call from our friend. Driving requires all of our attention because of the many lives that are in our hands at the wheel. We have to be careful when we are handling something that powerful.

There are many articles and stories on the news about texting and driving, and talking and driving. Articles like Mark Lane's close calls at Tomoka State Park show us that it happens in everyday life (Lane). Whereas, articles about Andrew and Jenna in the associated press teach us of the actual cases of who it hurts. Jenna and Andrew were injured two years ago in a four car crash on highway thirty-eight near Sioux Falls, SD. The driver that wrecked into them was checking their text messages and rear ended their car (Associated Press). This is a prime example of someone not focusing on the road in front of them because they were distracted by their phone. I would say that this driver was impaired. There are many steps involved in driving and some things you cannot control. Everything that has happened over the years in relation to driving and talking on cell phones has only provoked the laws that have been recently placed in the law books. It has been proven that driving while talking on a cell phone is a distraction and can impair a driver. Arizona, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and Illinois prohibit bus drivers from using cell phones while the bus is in motion. New Jersey, Tennessee, California, and Rhode Island also restrict bus drivers. Delaware has set up a task force that handles all issues relation to cell phones and driving. Here in Florida, we can use our phones as long as we can hear the outside world through just one ear. In Illinois, if you must use your phone in the car, they require you to wear an earpiece. If you live in Maine, you will have to wait until you are eighteen years old to talk and drive. New Jersey is a little harsher because they require you to have a hands free system set up in your car. Last but not least, New York allows no one to operate a motor vehicle while using a cell phone (Weimer).

There are many reasons for us to pay attention and hang up our phones. Even if we ignore all of the articles on close calls and horrible injuries, there are still fines that are inflicted if we break the laws in certain states. These fines go up to around two hundred and fifty dollars in places like Arkansas, New Jersey, and Illinois. They also go as low as thirty and fifty dollars in states like Delaware, Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts (Weimer). If you live in Florida, or any state that allows cell phone use in cars, then be careful for the people around you. I can see how easy it is to get distracted while driving to the point that you did not see something right in front of you. Talking on cell phones is a major distraction to anyone when driving. You can save money and save lives if you wait until you are stopped to take that call.

When making our way through life we seem to get caught up in ourselves and forget about the world around us. We get so interested in our daily conversations about our daily lives on our cell phones that we run red lights or swerve over a median. We might forget where to turn or jump a median because we are too distracted with our phones to pay attention to what we are doing. We need to remember that driving is a complicated process that requires much focus and all of our attention. There are many fines out there to keep us from driving and talking if the lives we endanger doesn't stop us.

There have been many studies and many articles on talking on cell phones while driving. There are also the many laws in place to restrict this distraction (Sturnquist). If this does not tell us that talking while driving is dangerous, then I have no idea what will. With as many people injured in reference to talking while driving, you would think that it would make everyone else twice as careful. We all just need to take a minute from our own lives and pay attention to our surroundings. It will not hurt anyone if you wait to pick up that call from your boss. However, you may hurt someone if you look down to answer it and a child darts out in front of your car in the process. Think before you talk and drive next time.

Works Cited

Sturnquist, Daniel M. ed., Weimer, Douglas Reid. Ed. Mobile Phones and Driving. New York. Novinka Books. 2006

Lane, Mark. Dial 'D' for 'doofuses driving.' Daytona Beach. Daytona Beach News Journal. 2009.

Associated Press. Number of cell phone driving accidents jumps in SD. 2009. News Bank Database.

Wikipedia. "Cellular Phones." Wikipedia online free dictionary. A Wikimedia project. Web. 25 Nov. 2009.

Wikipedia. "Text Messaging." Wikipedia online free dictionary. A Wikimedia project. Web. 1 Dec. 2009.