Resolved: Talking on the phone while driving should be outlawed in the United States of America.

"I don't defend any of the other distractions you pointed out. Just because other distractions exist, doesn't mean outlawing cell phones wouldn't be helpful in keeping drivers focused. Your argument against my logic is a slippery slope fallacy." ======================================================================== Put it like this, people talk on the phone while driving to amuse themselves while driving. If you take this away, people will just find somthing else to amuse themselves while driving. Maybe making people purchase the hands-free systems so that their hands may stay on the steering wheel should be allowed, but not outlawing talking on the phone while driving. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Also, talking on the phone while driving is especially distracting. While billboards and car radios are background distractions, cell phones command more attention and an extra hand. If I am having a conversation, I have to listen to what they are saying, process it, form a response, etc., completely taking my mind off of the task at hand. What makes talking on the cell phone distinct from conversation with a passenger is the phone itself. I have to drive with one hand because I'm holding the phone to my ear, or doing the awkward head-shoulder-lean-and-pinch maneuver. Also, it would be ridiculous and impossible to ban conversations with passengers." ============================================================================ As I said before, holding your phone in your hand is not the only way of talking on the phone while driving. Their are hands-free devices that could be purchased in order for it to be ok. Maybe we should require those instead of trying to outlaw it all together. A perfect example is how we require insurance. We realize driving is dangerous, however instead of outlawing driving all together, we require insurance. As far as the, " If I am having a conversation, I have to listen to what they are saying, process it, form a response, etc., completely taking my mind off of the task at hand." The same exact distraction is present when you have a conversation with someone in the passenger seat of a car, or even the backseat of the car. If your're outlawing it to prevent THIS distraction, however it will exhist EVEN AFTER you outlaw it [......] then the outlawing is pointless, is it not? Put it to you like this: If I have A, B, and C, and A and B both lead to C. However, I delete B because it leads to C but do nothing, and plan to do nothing with A[...] Then what is the point of even deleting B? I guarantee you there are more car accidents from distractions from people in the car than there are from people talking on cell phones. Now I understand your view, which is saying if we delete one of the reasons then it could only benefit. But, I fail to see how we'll benefit if we're doing it to prevent a problem that will still and always exhist, distractions. You'd call people that talked on the phone or texted on the phone while driving irresponsible right? (hence the fact that you want to outlaw their activity). Now do you think these irresponsible people will suddenly be unaffected by the other distractions from people in the car and suddenly become responsible with the outlawing of talking on cell phones? Or do you think they will combine talking with passengers to something else to compensate for their lost cell phones because they're not allowed to ammuse themselves. Keep in mind that long distance driving gets boring and people that aren't allowed to amuse themselves run the risk of falling asleep at the wheel. The law would be saying, " We allow people to be able to bear arms to defend themselves, which arms are to kill. We will still be able to draft soldiers in order to kill or be killed. We will still have the death penalty to kill. However, you can't talk on the phone because there is a 1/100 chance of dying in a car wreck." (and by the way I didnt even factor in the fact that not all car fatalaties are from cell phones. The ACTUAL chance is less than that) http://wiki.answers.com... Good luck on the debate and I loook forward to your next response.