Cell Phone Use Should be Prohibited While Driving :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Cell Phone Use Should be Prohibited While Driving A small sedan is crawling through an evening of rush hour traffic on I-65. Aware of the huge SUV attempting to merge into the lane, the driver slows in an effort to allow the vehicle to claim a space in the horde of eager business men and women fleeing from offices and pushing towards typical Friday night destinations. The driver of the SUV is unaware of the tiny car beside her and smashes into the automobile and curses into her cell phone. A witness a few cars behind quickly dials 911 on his cell phone. Unable to pay attention to traffic and dial the phone at the same time, he crashes into the truck in front of him causing a pile up of several cars. Because of the distraction they provide to motorists, cell phones should be banned from use by drivers of moving vehicles. According to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), nearly 168 million U.S. citizens used cell phones in August 2004 (Cell Phones and Driving). Without a doubt the number increases daily. Cell phones are becoming as American as baseball and apple pie. The insane amount of cell phones in the hands of distracted drivers can only mean one thing: a higher chance for an accident and that is exactly what is happening. ?A 1997 article published in the New England Journal of Medicine [stated]?the use of cell phones in motor vehicles?quadrupled risk of collision? (Cell Phones?on Highways?). This is a large increase considering accidents are being cause by a wireless device being used for meaningless phone conversations while sharing an interstate with other distracted drivers. Removing cell phones, an obvious distraction, is one way to reduce the number of traffic accidents. Simply not answering the persistent ring or allowing a passenger to dial and make the p hone conversation could save many lives. Life in America has become so fast paced that the separation between work and home is not apparent?especially when major business deals are being made by business men and women who are making left turns and sitting at four-way stops. As stated in the Electronic Engineering Times, ?Harvard?s Center for Risk Analysis?[shows]?2,600 people a year are killed and 330,000 are injured in car crashes involving cell phones? (1). With these statistics it would be expect that police officers responding to car accidents would document the proper information and ask if a cell phone was involved in a car accident.