Cell phone distraction -- Safety of Citizens, Maryland

[Brian S]

Dear Irresponsible Cell Phone Drivers,
I was do research for a speech I'm doing for a college class when I crossed this article. I have somthing I'd like for you to see since you put very little value on your own life or the life of others, copy and paste the URL to see your potential demise since you think your going to live forever!
http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/2005-accid...
This should wake you up! Best regards,
BWS

[Zoester]

Yeah yeah yeah - sure people talk on cell phones on the road. And maybe some accidents are caused. But as a lot of you all said - there's really no way to stop this mass epidemic called CELLPHONITIS CARRILUS. Honestly, the fuzz can slap a fine on ya if they catch you with a cellular, but will that stop anyone? If there's gonna be any law at all it should have a harsher penalty or just stop trying.

[JPA]

Got this in e-mail.
Pass it on.
**********
Right now, there are millions of dangerous killers roaming the streets.
They just don’t realize that driving while talking on a cell phone has been proven, without question, to be as dangerous as driving drunk. And yet everyday, we all see people driving next to us, behind us, or in front of us who are talking on their cell phones. Maybe you’re one of them. I’m sure you’re not, though, because surely your conversation isn’t more important than your life, right? Or mine?
If your brain is busy with a conversation, you’re endangering everyone around you, including your passenger, or my nephew in the car seat behind me, or the old couple crossing the street.
You can’t “will” yourself to focus on driving while you’re on a cell phone; research has shown that that doesn’t work because your brain is just busy with “cognitive workload.” You can’t get around it.
And guess what? Ear pieces don’t actually help much, either. If your brain is busy with a conversation with someone who isn’t a passenger (who acts as an extra set of eyes), you are as dangerous as a drunk driver. If you’re talking on a cell phone while driving, your response time is dangerously slow.
If you don’t believe Mythbusters (who tested and proved cell phones can be as dangerous as driving drunk), here’s some more proof:
A 1997 American study [2] and a 2005 Australian study [3] both show that collisions when using a cellular telephone was four times more likely.
A 2003 study by University of Utah Psychology professor David Strayer found that “cell phone drivers exhibited greater impairment than intoxicated drivers.[7] Do you hate traffic? People on cell phones actually cause traffic jams, too. In 2008, Strayer reported that motorists who talk on mobile phones don’t pass sluggish vehicles.[26]
Over 30 countries now ban cell phone use while driving completely, regardless of whether or not a headset is being used.
A 2002 Transport Research Laboratory report also showed that talking on a cell phone is “ more dangerous than being over the legal alcohol limit.” Drivers under the influence of alcohol required 115 feet of stopping distance, while people holding a cell phone required 148 feet of stopping distance, and drivers wearing headsets required 128 feet.(Normal drivers required 102 feet or less.)
It takes less than a split second for a lapse in concentration to result in an accident.
Even if you don’t care about anyone around you, and let’s hope that’s not true, in 2005, an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study found that drivers talking on the cellphone were four times more likely to get in an accident serious enough to injure themselves.
Let’s not wait until we all know someone who was killed in a car accident caused by cell phones. Please hang up and drive, and pass it on.
Just a few links:
http://www.iihs.org/
http://www.forcesciencenews.com/visuals/stray ...
http://www.transportation.alberta.ca/Content/ ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_an ...
Scientific Evidence:
http://cartalk.com/content/features/Drive-Now ...
Get a "Drive Now, Talk Later" bumper sticker
http://cartalk.com/content/features/Drive-Now ...