As cell phones have become more popular and their use has increased, so too have cell phone-related accidents. These accidents range from minor to catastrophic and have led to laws that limit or prohibit the use of cell phones on the road

1. Cell Phone Dangers

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2. Cell phones draw a driver's attention away from traffic, road conditions and vehicle operation. Some studies have shown the increased likelihood of an accident to be four times the normal rate when a driver is using a cell phone. A large part of this dangerous distraction involves the need to physically handle the phone. Activities such as reading the display screen, pressing buttons and holding the phone to the ear all require the driver to take their hands off the steering wheel or their eyes off the road.
   
   
   Cell phones require a driver to listen to the person speaking through the phone, leaving the driver less likely to hear another driver's horn or an emergency siren. There also is the mental aspect of the danger of cell phone use. When thoughts are focused on the subject of the conversation, they are less focused on driving.Hands-Free Use
   
3. As early as the mid 1990s, cell phone manufacturers began offering hands-free kits for most of their phones. These often consist of a mount for the phone itself and may include an earphone and/or clip-on microphone. For phones with a speakerphone option, the mount may be all that is necessary for hands-free phone use. Newer cell phones featuring Bluetooth earpieces with integrated microphones take the simplification of phone use a step further, requiring only that the phone be in close proximity for the user to carry on a conversation and control many of the phone's features wirelessly through the earpiece.
   
   
   In some studies the use of hands-free cell phones has been shown to do little to improve driver safety. This is because although it removes the physical distraction of handling a phone, the driver must still divide his attention between his conversation and his driving.Legislation
   
4. In 2001, New York became the first state to ban the use of cell phones while driving, unless a hands-free device is used. This opened the field to other states, who borrowed the accident data cited by New York and enacted their own cell phone bans. Hundreds of bills have been introduced into state legislatures, and today most states regulate the use of cell phones for some drivers.
   
   
   In some states, including California, Virginia and Indiana, drivers under the age of 18 are not permitted to use a cell phone while driving, even if a hands-free system is available. These "All Cell Phone Bans" usually require the use of a hands-free device for adult drivers. In many states some drivers, such as school bus drivers, are subject to especially stringent regulations that may disallow any cell phone use while driving. While little data exists to suggest the effectiveness of these laws, they are difficult to enforce, and many drivers continue to use cell phones illegally.Texting
   
5. A more recent concern in driver safety involving cell phones involves text messages and other phone features that do not require talking into the phone. Texting while driving has been cited as the cause of numerous accidents. It has become more worrisome, as text-messaging capabilities are built into more phones, and more users purchase text-messaging plans or use the built-in internet features on their phones.
   
   
   Texting-while-driving bans began to appear in 2009 and are now a reality in several states. However, these bans are even more difficult to enforce than cell phone use bans, since texting can be done discreetly and without exposing the phone to someone outside the car. Instead, citations for texting while driving are often issued when drivers are stopped for some other offense (such as speeding) or after an accident has occurred and texting is found to be a factor.Statistics
   
6. The statistical data surrounding accidents involving driver cell phone use point to the danger. A study done by the University of Utah found that the impairment experienced by a driver using a cell phone is equivalent to driving with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent (above the legal limit in some states). Driving while distracted (known as DWD) is responsible for 25 percent of all car accidents, with many of those coming from the distractions of using a cell phone or other mobile device.
   
   
   In the area of mental distraction, a study by Carnegie Mellon University found that the amount of brain activity devoted to driving may decrease by as much as 37 percent when a cell phone is used.

 

Talking on the phone is bad enough, I hate when I have to and keep it at a minimum but I can't for the life of me see how people text while driving.

 

 

 

I text when I drive, I admit it, but I only do when there is none to little traffic or Im in my really empty town going like 20.

 

In California both talking on the phone, and texting while driving are illegal unless you have a 100% hands free device. That includes dialing the phone hands free...

Personally, I tried the whole bluetooth thing when the law first past, and tried about 3 different bluetooths ranging from $30-120.00 in price. ALL of them sucked, and I was always struggling to hear, or make the piece of crap work. Honestly I think I almost got in an accident trying to get my stupid bluetooth to pick up a phone call.

Soooooooo. I said screw it, and I just pick up my phone and talk on it, and of course look for cops while i'm doing it. LOL.

Texting I can see being unsafe, and it should be illegal. I have texted while driving, but I never send huge messages, I will occasionally respond to a message when on the highway, but I just make one letter responses like "K".

 

They just made it to illegal to talk and text in Oregon. Good thing they didn't say anything about email. lol

 

i txt while i drive, im also on here while i drive lol, i txt alot around 15k msgs a month, what i think should be done is anyone under 21 should get a ticket for txtin, and any one over should get one if there all over the road txtin, by the time you hit 21 most drivers will of had 5yrs experiance so they should know what to do but idk, idk what the law even is here i txt ill always txt so