Develop Part 3: Possible Disadvantages, Answers, with Visuals (2 pages)

To

Dr. Saraswathi Lakshmanan

ENG215 – Research and Writing

Strayer University

05/24/2016

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Running head: CELL-PHONE VS. LIFE

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Introduction

The invention of smartphones has revolutionized how people live and interact with each other. The main reason being, cell phones enable people to communicate and be able to conduct business through m-commerce. Therefore, most of the people not only in the United States but also all over the world now have access to smartphones. However, the fact that smartphones are invaluable has also contributed to road accidents, which are caused by cell phone use while driving. “Ten percent of all drivers 15 to 19 years old involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted at the time of the crashes. This age group has the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted at the time of the crashes (NHTSA, 2015).”

In the U.S., cell phone use while driving has been listed as one of the leading causes of accidents. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 80% of all car crashes are related to driver inattention. Six thousand fatal crashes each year involve an inattentive driver–and cellphone use is the No. 1 culprit (Elliott, 2010).” Although there are laws and policies that prohibit the use of mobile phones, they vary from one state to another, which makes law enforcement harder to implement. Therefore, despite of the numerous benefits that smartphones have brought, drivers ought to be accountable for their actions and the problem of cellphone use while driving should be solved as soon as possible before it becomes unmanageable.

History of the Problem

The use of cell phones has increased exponentially since the first mobile phone was introduced in the consumer market in 1983. Initially, they were expensive and only a few people could afford them. However, as time went by, competition among phone making companies in that field stiffened, which drove the prices down and now people have the ability to afford cell-phones. This rampant ownership and use of smartphones now contributes to most of the accidents due to driver distractions.

Although there are traffic laws that aim at deterring drivers from using cell phones while driving, the problem keeps recurring as the laws differ from one state or to another. Therefore, there’s dire need for these different laws and policies to undergo standardization in order to minimize confusion among drivers.

Overview of the Problem

Driver distraction while using a mobile phone could take many different forms. Some of the mobile phone uses impair a driver’s ability to hear such as taking phone calls while other uses such as replying to messages require both the visual and cognitive attention of the driver, which makes it the biggest distractor. Therefore, a distracted driver using a cell phone could pose a lot of danger not only to himself or herself but to other road users as well.

The laws that have been put into place by both the central and the county governments are different which makes it difficult to contain the problem of cell phone use while driving. Apart from that some laws are dependent on different places and some vary depending on whether the phone being used is hand-held or hands-free. The following section shows some of the problems that have contributed towards the use of cell phones while driving.

First Problem

The primary cause of this problem is advancement in technology. The main reason is, technology has added more functionality to cell phones. Initially, cell phones were limited to just calls and textual messages but as technology advanced, cell phones now have the ability to support other functions such as social media and m-commerce. Therefore, most of the young people are getting attracted to purchasing and using cell phones (Morrill, Jones &Vaterlaus, 2013). This escalates the problem further as drivers get more and more reasons to use their cell phones while driving.

Second Problem

Legislations that regulate the use of cell phones while driving have also contributed to the problem because of one major reason. They have not been standardized. Many localities and states in the U.S. have approached the problem of cell phone use while driving differently (Ucles, 2014). Some states and cities have banned the use of certain cell phones while allowing the use of others such as Guam that prohibits the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. Other states have banned the use of cell phones by inexperienced drivers such as Washington D.C. “Currently, 46 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers. All but 5 have primary enforcement. Of the 4 states without an all driver texting ban, 2 prohibit text messaging by novice drivers, 1 restricts school bus drivers from texting (Distraction.gov, n.d.).”

It is very unfortunate to note that no state has banned the use of all type of cell phones while driving which makes it a problem. The Federal Government, through the Senate and House of Assembly should ensure that the laws among these states are uniform in order for the problem to be resolved effectively.

Third Problem

The way the law prohibiting the use of cell phones has been enforced also varies from one state to another. Laws work by deterrence and ensuring that offenders don’t go unpunished. This means, law violators have to be punished for breaking the law and as far as the issue of using cell phones while driving is concerned. Law violators are punished differently depending on the state. For example, the amount of fines charged differs with other states charging more than others. A good example of such states is Oregon and D.C. that charge higher fines than other states. Oregon fines at least 142 dollars and D.C. for 100 dollars for violations of both hand-held devices and texting for all drivers and forbids minors from using any types of cellphones. In addition, California fines 20 dollars for the first ban violation, for further offenses with maximum fines of 50 dollars (Elliott, 2010). Besides that, some states treat cell phone use while driving as a primary offense while others treat them as secondary offenses.

Conclusion

Based on the current statistics, cell phones are becoming more and more integrated into peoples’ lives, which means their use will increase as time goes by. This means, drivers as people will be more dependent on their phones, which would tempt them to use their mobile phones while driving. Therefore, for this problem to be solved through legislation, it’s absolutely critical that the discrepancies between statutory laws are resolved as soon as possible before the problem worsens. Van Dongen, the public information officer for the New Hampshire Department of Safety, stated:

Would a cop pull somebody over for texting? Probably not, unless the car was swerving all over the road… You can’t really see from the outside of the car what somebody’s doing… It is up to the states to decide whether they’re (laws) effective (Elliott, 2010).

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