Cell Phone is Greatest Invention

Cell phones can be arguably one of the greatest inventions of this century, they connect the world in ways never thought possible. Everyone has a cell phone and weather it goes off while driving due to a message, social media, or a phone call, it can take someone’s attention away from the road for a second to look at a phone or even one minute to respond to a text. It does not matter how good you are at multitasking, cell phones need to be banned and regulated as they are a hazard to everyone on the road, it is not simply your life you are risking. There should be no reason to pick up your phone while driving your car. Even hands-free devices that allow us to talk on the phone while driving with both hands on the wheel are still a hazard. I do understand that sometimes there may be an emergency but if that is the case, then pull over, take the call, and then return to driving.

Experiments in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention by Samuel G. Charlton shows participants’ speed at five different hazard locations. The findings clearly indicated that driving while conversing over a cell phone is appreciably different to driving while talking to an in-car passenger or driving without any conversation.

Drivers talking on a cell phone often failed to take any action to reduce their speed as they approached the hazards, resulting in the highest crash rates obtained. In more ways than one, using a cell phone while driving has been proven to be a dangerous thing for people to do. “Nearly 390,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving. And one out of every four car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving” (Royal 32).

The use of a cell phone while driving may not be the cause of every car accident but it is a problem that can be prevented. Studies shown in the article, Driving While Conversing: Cell phones that Distract and Passengers Who React, that even talking to a passenger in a vehicle can be just as demanding to the same degree as a conversation over cell phones.

“Passenger conversations undoubtedly enjoy greater fidelity and intelligibility as compared to any sort of cell phone and thus require less attention and effort by the driver to process the conversation, allowing more attention to remain with the primary driving task” (Charlton 161).

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