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cell phones and their use
Should Cell Phones Be Illegal While Driving?
How many times have you driven to work in the morning and either on a dual carriageway or parked at traffic lights looked at the car next to you; only to be confronted by the sight of some Muppet with a mobile phone glued to his or her ear. Cellular phones might be the wave of the future, but talking on them while driving could soon be a thing of the past. It is a sight that is now becoming increasingly common as more people than ever before have mobile phones and people drive to work rather than use the pathetic public transportation system. However, a recent study at the Transport Research Laboratory sponsored by insurer Direct Line has provided new evidence that driving and using a mobile phone may be more dangerous than driving whilst under the influence of alcohol.
As the recent studied showed, driving with a cell phone could act like driving under the influence. The research showed that on average the reactions of the driver were nearly 50% slower than when driving normally and that even using a hands free kit did not completely eliminate the distraction caused by having a telephone conversation whilst driving.
Using a hand held mobile phone and driving is illegal in many countries including the UK and those caught in this country are usually prosecuted for dangerous or careless driving. Some people however believe that it should be treated as a separate offence and is currently trying to push bill through parliament banning the use of hand held mobile phones when driving. It is not just the Nokia wielding maniacs that gives people cause for that concern.
“One of the most infamous studies was that of 699 collisions involving vehicles that had cell phones that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers concluded “the risk of a collision when using a cell phone was four times higher than the risk when a cell phone was not being used” ().