Reckless Driving Caused By Cell Phone Usage

This story of how cell phones can distract drivers and cause accidents is likely not a new one, but perhaps it should serve as a lesson to both parents and teenagers everywhere. The story starts with a simple concert. Myself, and one of my friends went to a nearby college to see a few bands play. The bands were not particularly good. And I left the auditorium to see a cluster of friends gathered near my Acura Integra, a car I had owned and loved for many years. It seemed that although these many students were able to get a ride to the show, they needed a ride home. Being the generous person that I am, a ride was offered, and, I drove a two door car crammed with six people back to the girl's house where several of them had their cars parked.

Everything seemed to be going well. We got out of the car, said our goodbyes, and I got back in the Integra and slowly and carefully began to back out of the driveway. I was almost on the road and stopped to yield to traffic when it happened. One of the kids I had drove home owned a Nissan Frontier, equipped with massive rims and tires. I looked out of my windshield and saw the back end of the truck headed right for me. I watched helpless as the Frontier hit the front bumper of the Integra, and then kept driving. Directly up the quarter panel and hood, and finally coming to rest about a foot from my face on the windshield. You see, he had been on his cell phone and had not stopped to even look behind him before gunning it in reverse.

After stopping, still mounted on the hood of the Integra, he got out with a confused look and explained that he had thought he hit a rock and wanted to drive over it. Apparently, one of the girls in the truck had been screaming for him to stop and he had been so distracted that he kept on driving anyway.

The students parents finally came and expressed their desire to pay for everything out of pocket. Thus, the Integra was driven one last time to a local auto body for the damages to be assessed. In roughly thirty seconds of stupidity, he had destroyed the front bumper, one headlight, one fog light, the entire bumper assembly, the quarter panel, hood, windshield, and had even managed to bend up the frame from the weight of the truck. All together, this damage would have been in the six thousand dollar range to fix. The Integra was totaled out and his parents also covered the cost of a rental car until I could find something to replace the car I had loved so much.

Of course, each and every year, thousands of stories occur which are far worse than this simple event. No one was hurt, and although the Integra was totaled, everyone made it out OK, and a very nice 2000 Eclipse GT was found as my baby's replacement. However, over two hundred drivers every year are killed from cell phone usage while driving. In addition to this, half a million injuries are reported.

Simply put, cell phones and driving do not mix. Several research studies have come to the conclusion that cell phone usage impairs a person to the same limit as driving while intoxicated. Ear pieces and cars equipped with "Bluetooth" systems are not the solution to this problem. We need to teach teenagers early (as my parents did when I learned to drive) that there is a time and place to make phone calls, and driving on the road is not one of them. Multitasking and driving do not mix, and it is often a deadly combination. We need to express to drivers the risk and dangers that come with using a cell phone while driving. That conversation is not worth someone's life, and this is a lesson that simply must be taught more often and more effectively. From an early age, we learn about how dangerous it is to drive carelessly, how we should never consume alcohol and drive, but we are given few warnings about driving while talking on a cell phone.

Think about the accidents and pain that could be avoided if only we would learn to not reach for that phone when it rings. A person can be called back, an accident cannot be reversed. Drivers using cell phones are over four times more likely to be involved in an accident. There is no need for this, and we must learn to avoid and teach against this practice before more lives are lost.