Why Banning Cell Phones

Toyna Nelson
AC1303621
SP180.0.3
7_07 Speech
June 18, 2013

Why Banning the Use of Cell Phones While Driving Should Be Mandatory Nationwide

Cell phones are very common in today’s market as a wrist watch was in the past. Young ones and even the elderly ones have phones now. Especially the young ones are constantly texting, playing games, talking, or surfing the Internet. Doing all of these is harmless till they decide to drive. So therefore, the United States government should pass the legislation to have it ban for the usage of your cell phones while driving nationwide.

Statistic for the number of deaths and life-altering accidents for our younger drivers are still staggering. Young teen’s texting while driving has caused 11 teen deaths EVERYDAY.
The whatever not so important message they sent has 11 families, schools, and communities that are forever missing children, classmates, teammates and just the great kid next door? Still, it is legal in 11 states to text while driving; just 10 fully prohibit cell phones while driving. The
NHTBS says texting is 6 times more dangerous than driving while being intoxicated. Finally, texting is not just a teen-problem, with there being a 47% of adults admitting to texting while driving. A. Driving while being distracted is an epidemic. B. To have measure on how to prevent these accidents, lawmakers should act responsibly. C. To a result of this epidemic, some states have already implemented laws in order to address this issue. My mission today is to convince you to make a pledge so we can stop the use of people using their cell phones while driving. In addition to this I will prove that the ban is justified and should be implemented nationwide.

Driving while being distracted is becoming a national epidemic. According to AAA

Foundation for Traffic Safety, with drivers being distracted has contributed up to 8000 accidents,

due to the use of cell phones up to 10 minutes before a crash happens is associated with a

fourfold increased likelihood of crashing, and if there is a risk raised irrespective. By the

observational study that was done by Wilson, Fang, and Wiggins in 2003 shows that compared

to drivers using cell phones miss twice as many traffic signals, are more likely to swerve into the

next lane (46%), tailgating (23%), have close calls (18%), and running red lights (10%).

The epidemic has gotten to the point that the lawmakers need to seriously consider on

how to stop accidents. Even if a driver uses a hand-held or hands-free are four times more likely

to be in a crash. The National Safety Council estimates that there are at least 1.6 million crashes

every year, a driver uses there cell phone to text. 94% of drivers agree that texting or emailing

while driving is unacceptable. 87% support laws against reading, typing, or sending text

messages or email while driving, according to AAA Foundations 2011 Traffic Safety Culture

Index.

Several states have already passed laws restricting text messaging while driving and

many of the states have required for drivers to use hands-free devices while using their cell

phone. The government website called “distracted”, some states have bans for beginner drivers,

and some have bans for bus drivers, public and commercial drivers, as a primary law in states

have hand-held bans for drivers. N.H.T.S.A. (NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY

ADMINISTRATION) reported, only 9 of the US states prohibit the use of hand-held devices to

make calls while driving. In Washington D.C. and the US Virgin Island also have bans. No

state or territory has an all-encompassing phone ban that includes hands-free devices, as well.

Thirty-five states ban text messaging while driving and 32 of those have primary enforcement

(drivers can and will be pulled over for the singular offense).

Distracted driving is a national epidemic and should be treated with the same attention as

the ones driving while intoxicated. Lawmakers should act immediately to pass legislation to ban

the usage of cell phones while driving nationwide.

REFERENCE LIST:

“Distracted Driving| Facts & Stats | Texting & Driving.” Distracted Driving| Facts & Stats| Texting & Driving. N.p., n.d. Retrieved June 11, 2013. http://www.distraction.gov/content/get-the-facts/facts-&-statistics.html

“Distracted Driving| State Laws | Texting & Driving.” Distracted Driving | State Laws | Texting and Driving. N.p., n.d. Retrieved June 2013. http://www.distraction.gov/content/get-the-facts/state-laws.html

“Distracted Driving: The Pledge to Drive Distraction-Free.” Distracted Driving: The Pledge to Drive Distraction-Free. N.p., n.d. Retrieved, June 11, 2013. http://www.aaafoundation.org/multimedia/distractiondriving

Reardon, Marguerite, (Dec 13, 2011).

“NTSB Calls for Stricter Bans on Cell Phone Use While Driving.” CNET News, CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 2013. http://www.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-57342444-266/ntsb-calls-for-stricter-bans-on-cell-phone-use-while-driving

“Result Filters.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Retrieved June 11,2013. http://www.ncb.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16012176

BMJ. 2005 August 20; 331 (7514): 428, Epub July 12,2005

Wilson, J., Fang, M., and Wiggins, S. (2003)

Collision and Violation involvement of drivers who use cellular telephones. Traffic Injury Prevention, 4(1), 45-52

Wolford, Josh. (2011)

“National Ban On Cell Phone Use While Driving Proposed by NTSB.” Web ProNews. N.p., Dec. 13,2011. Retrieved June 11, 2013. http://www.webpronews.com/nationawide-ban-on-cellphone-use-while-driving-proposed-by-ntsb-2011-12