It is the age of technology and with the many distractions in our daily lives. There are new cell phones coming out daily with many more features and buttons. This will help us to communicate better with friends and family. The cell phone companies don’t tell you that the piece of technology that helps you better communicate can be harmful to your health and safety. Texting while driving can be harmful to you and others in your vehicle. There recently has been more awareness about the dangers of texting and driving, but most people still put themselves at risk. About one in four mobile phone users still texts when driving, according to a recent survey. ” (Hamblen) Cell phones have a tendency to capture the persons attention almost memorizing the user this is referred to as the “Cell Phone Zone” (Gozzi) This tendency that cell phones have can be seen about anywhere from a person walking and talking on their phone to a person sitting on a bench and texting.
“The cell phone force magnetically grabs your attention, and pulls you in onto the screen, away from your physical surroundings. (Gozzi) It doesn’t matter how old the person is or how young they are the “Cell Phone Zone” can affect anyone at any age. This can even affect the best users it only takes 5 seconds for an accident of any kind to happen. Cell phones have become a major problem among drivers they are one of the biggest driving distractions. Texting has become especially a problem since most people tend to look down while texting. Texting has been the man cause of car accidents and there have been many that resulted in death. The summation of many of these studies seems to suggest that using cell phones, whether hand-held or hands-free, negatively affects a person’s ability to drive. ” (Richardson) The majority has to do with younger drivers they are not as experienced and tend to cause more car accidents than more experienced drivers. “Over 60% of American teens admit to risky driving, and nearly half of those that admit to risky driving also admit to text messaging behind the wheel. ”(Snyder) Even the most experienced driver can be at risk for a car accident.
It doesn’t matter if the person texting looks down for a second it can cause an accident. Some states have banned talking on cell phones but that is not enough for this reckless crime. “When people are in the phone zone their attention is pulled away from present physical reality. ” (Gozzi) People that text and drive not only put themselves in harms way they also can harm their passengers and pedestrians. “A problem that has risen to the rough equivalence of drunken driving thanks to the proliferation of phones that allow drivers to talk and text. (Ship) If the driver looks down to answer a text they could run a red light and injure or kill a pedestrian walking or biking. “Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted driver, and more than half a million were injured. ” (U. S. DOMV)This type of accident can be much more harmful than a car accident.
The injuries are much more severe and possibly permanent. “In July 2008, an organization of emergency room physicians issued a warning about dangers associated with texting. ” (Gozzi) In conclusion it is much safer for the driver and the passengers to avoid from sing cell phones in the moving vehicle. This will help keep everyone safe including fellow drivers on the road and pedestrians. Hopefully one day soon this will be a law that you are not allowed to use a cell phone in a motor vehicle of any kind. This will help prevent many car accidents and save many lives. The cell phone companies don’t tell you that the piece of technology that helps you better communicate can be harmful to your health and safety. Hopefully the cell phone companies will stand by this movement of no cell phones in the motor vehicles.
Works Cited
“DRIVING WHILE TEXTING. ” State Legislatures 33. 4 (2007): 12. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 June 2010. http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail? vid=4&hid=111&sid=6e55a935-3a70-4d35-8092-e8b6af8af7e5%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=24691287%23db=aph&AN=24691287. Gozzi, Raymond. “The Cell Phone Zone. ” ETC: A Review of General Semantics. 65. 4 (2008): 382-383. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 June 2010. http://search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&db=aph&AN=36911483&site=eh
