The National Safety Council, which campaigned to enforce seatbelt laws, started a campaign to ban the use even of handsfree cell phones while driving.
Up until now, it was considered that talking on the phone while driving is dangerous only because a driver can’t use a hand holding the phone, that’s why many states have laws requiring the use of a handsfree cell phone while driving. However, recent studies show that a driver is distracted no matter if he uses a hadsfree cell phone or not. It should be mentioned that it is less dangerous to talk to a live passenger because he “provides another pair of eyes on the road”. This is also confirmed by respective studies.
A team of researchers has come to a conclusion that the use of a cell phone on the road increases the probability of a car accident four times because a driver is distracted as if he is drunk. According to a study from the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis, 6% of car accidents happen because drivers are talking on the road. These 6% equal 636 thousand accidents with 330 thousand injuries and 2600 deaths in USA per year.
There may be many people doubting the reasonability of a complete cell phone use ban and saying that a cell phone isn’t the only thing that distracts a driver. This is true but among 270 mln. wireless telephone subscribers in the US more than 80% admit to speaking on the phone on the road several hours a day.
