By Ben Lewis
Round Table reporter
The NTSB (National Traffic and Safety Board) are recommending a ban on all cell phone use while in the car, which is an overzealous response that should not include the likes of Bluetooth and other hands free devices.
Texting and talking on the phone, while driving, should be banned because it distracts the driver from the road, and slows down reaction time. As for Bluetooth and other hands free devices, it doesn’t distract the driver anymore then switching a radio station would.
Maryland, along with other states, have banned texting but only “Three states–Connecticut, New Jersey and New York–plus the District of Columbia implemented total bans on driving while using a phone, threatening violators with fines or jail time. Brazil, Germany, Great Britain and Japan, for example, all have nationwide bans on cell phone driving,” according to research done by Issues and Controversies.
Even though some states are starting to ban phones completely, people are still doing it. “According to a September 21, 2010 report, 250,000 American motorists are texting and driving, at any given moment,” reports the PBS NewsHour.
If the U.S. really wants to stop cell phone use then they must follow suit of countries like Brazil, Germany, Great Britain and Japan, and ban cell phone use nationwide. Having higher consequences for breaking these laws such as a large fine or even jail time can result in less cell phone use in the car.
The main reason texting and or talking on the road is so dangerous is because it slows reaction time and distracts the driver from the road. Many accidents occur from distracted drivers, and many people lose their lives each year, to just send one more text.
One of the main reasons the NTSB proposed the ban was after a horrific crash on “Aug. 5, 2010, in Gray Summit, Mo., in which the driver of a pickup truck sent 11 text messages in the 11 minutes prior to the accident that killed him and injured a number of passengers on two school buses,” according to an article done by eWeek.
If someone really needs to send a text or call someone simply pull over to the side of the road and do it. Or use hands free devices such as Bluetooth and Siri.
People are starting to research and develop ways to disable the smart phone while in the car. “The most straightforward way to ensure that the person driving is not using their cell phone is to disable the smart phone while the car is moving,” according to eWeek.
No software has been fully developed yet, but the system would start once the phone detects it’s over a certain speed “The software runs in the background of a smart phone and comes to life when it detects that the device is moving faster than a preset velocity, typically five mph,” according to eWeek.
This system could prove to eliminate the whole problem, but no software has been developed yet and much research still has to be done before it is actually put into use.
In the end, texting and talking on the phone could get you seriously injured or killed. So remember, to stay alive don’t text and drive.
