THE NEW DUI

The ban on texting and talking on cell phones while driving will help increase the awareness and encourage drivers to stay focused on the task at hand. According to the National Safety Board (NTSB) distracted driving it is the new DUI and is becoming an epidemic. The NTSB is doing everything possible to make it mandatory to ban cell phone use while driving. Those who are caught texting while driving should be fined as harshly as one caught driving with no seatbelts in use or even Driving under the influence.

People use cell phones everywhere, walking, driving, at school, at work, at home. The need for these devices has increased dramatically, but in recent years, the used of these ones while driving has created so many accidents and fatalities that are irresponsible. Cell phones use is a major distraction to the drivers, because it occupies one's eyes and attention which should be appointed on the road and this can cause terrible accidents. Statistics showed that in 2010, 3,000 people were killed in the U.S. because of accidents that involved, distracted driving and more than 350,000 were injured. Cell phone use while driving causes distraction and horrible accidents which even led to many deaths. There are many laws banning them in many states but there is still a lot of resistance and worst yet people continue doing it with zero regard to their fellow drivers (National Transportation Safety Board, 2011).

Why do people insist on using their phones when these incidents keep happening? Using cell phone while driving slows the reaction time, a study at the University of Utah that was published in the journal “Utah News Center” stated that Motorists, who talk on cell phones drive slower on the freeway, pass sluggish vehicles less often and take longer to complete their trips, according to a University of Utah study that suggests drivers on cell phones congest traffic. Even with the newer cell phones out there, they make the keyboards even harder to type with, and with the new laws in place, why even risk to get a ticket, or even worse get in an accident by trying to talk on the phone. I do admit there are times when I put the phone on speaker and set it in my lap to have a conversation, but even then it is only for a minute or two. From my own experiences, texting while driving is not an easy task and it is proved that could be deadly (The Dangers of Texting While Driving).

Cell phone users have been found to be 5.36 times more likely to get in an accident than undistracted drivers. Other studies have shown the risk is about the same as for drivers with a 0.08 blood-alcohol level. They followed the pace car more closely, were twice as likely to break only four seconds before a collision would have occurred, and hit their brakes with 23 percent more force. Neither accident, rates nor reaction times to vehicles braking in front of the participant, nor recovery of lost speed following braking differed significantly from undistracted drivers. Even with the hands-free devices and safer alternatives, the scientists had