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There are two sides to this debate: the side that states that cell phone use while driving is bad for the driver and everyone around him and the other side that defends cell phone use in cars saying it is not that bad. Driving with cell phones provide the driver and the car's occupants the ability of instant access to friends, family and other necessities.
Jerry Wilson states in his article "Cell Phones and Driving":
- Anything that causes a distraction might lead to an increased risk of having an accident. But that doesn’t mean there should be a law against it. It should be left up to people’s common sense....We have enough laws that limit personal freedoms, such as the seat belt laws. We don’t need another one.
Yes, it is fun to talk to your friends and family while driving home or going out. Common sense, though, may not be enough for everyone as a means of safe driving. It is easy to be distracted. As much as people enjoy their cell phones however there is no denying that cell phones are not a positive to have while driving. Scientific experimentation done at the University of Utah has found evidence that "Drivers on Cell Phones Are as Bad as Drunks." Some of the evidence states:
- Motorists who talked on either handheld or hands-free cell phones drove slightly slower, were 9 percent slower to hit the brakes, displayed 24 percent more variation in following distance as their attention switched between driving and conversing, were 19 percent slower to resume normal speed after braking and were more likely to crash. Three study participants rear-ended the pace car. All were talking on cell phones. None were drunk.
- Drivers drunk at the 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level drove a bit more slowly than both undistracted drivers and drivers using cell phones, yet more aggressively. They followed the pace car more closely, were twice as likely to brake only four seconds before a collision would have occurred, and hit their brakes with 23 percent more force. “Neither accident rates, nor reaction times to vehicles braking in front of the participant, nor recovery of lost speed following braking differed significantly” from undistracted drivers, the researchers write.
So as much as people say that cell phones do not pose a problem to people when they are driving I believe them to be misinformed as do the people at the University of Utah and most motorists in the greater United States.