Phones & Driving

Waking up from a wonderful dream, you look around to what you can describe as your dull or gloomy-like room. Without even realizing, you've already picked up your phone and start to browse your social media. You check the time and go look outside your window and it looks like a wonderful day. You quickly decide to blast your music and dress up fashionably before you go out to your friend's place. Alast you finish by taking many, many selfies and videos and then share them all to your friends and a few social media platforms while getting in the car. Now you've started the car and are now on the way to your friend's house as planned before. On your drive, text messages start to ring your phone a lot and people try calling you. Meanwhile you are on the highway. Mind you, you just started driving two weeks before, so you're practically new to this.

At this point you only have two options, are you willing to get on this phone while driving? Or should you wait until your vehicle is at rest? You want to convince yourself that it may be an emergency but is it really a smart decision to fiddle with that device while driving? Let alone on a highway at about 75 mph? Which leads to the topic of this essay, whether or not a driver should use their cell phone in any capacity while operating a vehicle.

In general, cell phones are a huge distraction to society itself. Some in a good way, such as passing by time. But some in a dangerous way, such as operating a vehicle. Let's talk about how dangerous this is. According to research, reasons you shouldn't use your phone while operating a vehicle is pretty obvious. It's dangerous in numerous ways, as little as two second distraction is just enough to see who's calling and texting your cell phone but it's also just enough time to get you into a crash and cause chaos. Those few moments of looking at your phone rather than the road you're moving far and even enough to where you wouldn't see any pedestrians, motorcycles/bikes, or another person unexpectedly braking in front of you. Apparently stats show that cell phone use while operating a vehicle has increased with an added fact that 18 to 29 years olds are more than likely to be the people trying to access phones while driving. While that age group tends to have the high frequency of doing so, research supports that the age group over 65 have the lowest frequency. It wouldn't even be smart to use a phone at traffic lights. You may fail to go at the green light and that's when the illegal part comes in. There are tremendous amounts of consequences that can happen from driving all being, punishable or harmful.

In comparison, many other people may disagree and say that using a phone could be helpful. Based upon research, people claim there are great benefits to using your cell phone while driving. People feel they can use cell phones while driving safely with the help of hands-free technology. With laws banning hands-on behind the wheel impacting regions, drivers are saying that it's the typing of letters which takes too long that makes it dangerous. Even though people using hands-free devices and hands-on devices are equally bound to end up in a car accident, hands-free drivers tend to get fewer speeding tickets and general traffic citations than drivers using hands-on cell phones. More research states that pros of using a cellphone are for lifeline, navigation, cameras, traffic reports, and crime reporting. Drivers may need lifeline for road-side assistance for problems like car accidents where time is tight or paramedics and other emergency contacts that may be needed. Navigation assists drivers in locationing and maps providing real-time traffic reports, this supports the hands-free benefit of cell phones by a lot because it is very much needed. Cameras are important for quick situations such as car crashes. The person may need to hurry and catch a picture of the licence plate of whom might be performing a hit and run. Traffic reports provide drivers with up-to-date traffic updates on traffic jams, highway closings, and accidents. And lastly crime reporting for suspicious and illegal actions a driver may have spotted. With research it's clear many drivers can support that there are ways to operate vehicles while driving safely.

In my opinion, there shouldn't necessarily be any use of a cell phone while operating a vehicle. It's very dangerous and can cause people to be harmed badly and even bring death upon people. I feel that bluetooth music, texting, and calls, are not an excuse to grab the phone while driving. All texts and calls can wait because little do you know your life's on the line especially when your vehicle is moving at any type of speed. And music can be changed within good time management. I understand that people may have jobs that may require them to use their phones while driving and that's where advanced technology takes place. Advanced technology is allowing vehicles to assist drivers for safety or the vehicle may even drive itself. Hands-free cell phone usage has been promoted but now more safely than ever in this generation but I still feel that even all of the hands-free technology can even be quite an amount of distractions. Mind you one of the biggest and important rules of driving is to focus on the road. It may be hard sometimes considering that at young ages cell phones are practically habitual and it's almost like we need them for everything. Notice how in the introduction I brought how a cell phone is being used. That was to show how big of a role a cell phone plays in our lives, and me mentioning being a new driver was to have a bigger as to why the phone shouldn't be used. Using a cell phone while driving is very, very dangerous to you, and even others in some cases.

In conclusion, if causing harm and chaos is the last thing you want, the suggestion should be to not use a cell phone while operating a vehicle. Hands-free may sound great and all but it can be just as risky as hands-on cell phones. Surely the messages and calls being received can wait until after your drive. There is no need to add on top of stats like accidents because of cell phones. As the saying goes "safety first!" And that safety plays a big role in everything, in this case driving.

Now back to the questions. Are you willing to get on this phone while driving? Or should you wait until your vehicle is at rest? What's your decision?

Work Cited

Ellis, Baldwin. "Pros of Driving & Cell Phone Use." It Still Works, 10 Jan. 2019, itstillworks. com/pros-driving-cell-phone-use-5499629. html.

Work Cited

Hilliard, Justin, et al. "Why You Really Shouldn't Use Your Mobile Phone While Driving." CarsGuide, www. carsguide. com. au/car-advice/why-you-really-shouldnt-use-your-mobile-phone-while-driving-33062.

Work Cited

"Pros And Cons Of Using A Hands Free Mobile Phone While Driving." Elite Driving School, 3 Nov. 2014, drivingschool. net/pros-and-cons-of-using-a-hands-free-mobile-phone-while-driving/.