Phones and Driving

Phones have become such an integral part of today's society in such a small amount of times. To the point where it is now considered surprising to not have one of these handheld devices. People are able to contact their family from miles away, check up on the weather, and even entertain themselves on their by watching videos or playing games. However, it isn't all good. Phones become entertaining to the point of distraction. Most of the world having to come up with new rules and laws for these devices and anything like them. 26% of the population getting into car accidents from being distracted by their phones from texting ('How Many Car Accidents Are Caused by Cellphones?' by Bay and Associates). Question is, should drivers be able to use their phones while driving in any capacity? Especially with the rise of their popularity and use with each generation?

Phones should be continued to be used by drivers in most capacities. Not everything should be allowed to continue or be taken off of the law, like the use of any social media or texting for example, because a phone has more uses than that. Texting if obviously the main thing we blame car accidents on, but sometimes it's more than that. Social media platforms can lead to distractions as well. Snapchat, a picture/video media platform led to a girl taking a photo in her car only to crash not even 20 minutes later back in April 2019 ('Teen who drove 106mph, used Snapchat in crash that killed friend is going to prison.' by Noah Feit). While things like that are horrible they shouldn't be banned completely while driving. If someone gets lost on their road they can always use google maps to get back home to said person's families. Maybe a family member or close friend is having an emergency, medical or otherwise, and tries to call up that person but they can't say anything due to their phone being banned. Leaving the Family member/friend to be alone or call someone else.

There is also the fact that not all car accidents are caused by texting and driving. Yes. It is a leading cause, but there are plenty of other causes of car accidents ('Top 15 Causes Of Car Accidents And How You Can Prevent Them.' by Elizabeth Laiza King). There are the causes that is more human error. There is distracted driving, drinking and driving, speeding, running a red light, etc. Then there are the more natural causes that could happen to even the most innocent, careful and law abiding citizens. Rain and potholes being a good couple of them. Just imagine driving in the rain at night and up the street is a pothole that you can barely make out. Oh, but there could be a solution to these problems to reduce car crashes! Ban all of them. A good idea on paper, but impossible to do and succeed without any car accidents ever again. Obviously you can't ban rain from open roads, and car accidents caused by drinking happens more often than not.

Alcoholic influence and texting are two very different things. Both should be banned from driving, but banning your phone completely when driving is similar to banning a couple of bottles in the back of the car and getting in trouble for that. Even though you aren't touching them or plan on using it for later use outside of the car. The percentage of car accidents while drinking and driving being 28% ('Motor Vehicle Safety' by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Meanwhile texting and driving being only 26%. A 2% difference. Still both very dangerous things. Yet drinking and driving still isn't banned completely. Yes, it's against the law, but you are allowed to drive after a couple of drinks as long as your Blood Alcohol Concentration stays at 0.08 at the maximum ('Alcohol & Drug Info: What is BAC?' by Stanford University: Office of Alcohol Policy and Education).

Phones as an entirety shouldn't be completely banned as long as alcohol isn't completely banned. Texting/messaging while driving should still be a concern, and shouldn't be reconsidered at all, but not everything is bad on a phone while driving. Coming into this new generation of drivers, it would be a good idea to start coming up with ways to possibly integrate these devices into driving tactics or the car itself. This way, it's possible to still get a use of a phone as well as lowering the car crash rate worldwide. Many cars coming up with this type of hands free technology. Jeep being a good example of this.