Roberta M. Helming: Put down your phone and focus on the road

Roberta M. Helming: Put down your phone and focus on the road


By ROBERTA M. HELMING
For the Norwich Bulletin
Posted Aug 03, 2010 @ 12:01 AM

Are accidents resulting from cell phone use while driving in danger of surpassing the number of fatalities caused by drunken drivers?

The lead story in the July 27 Norwich Bulletin concerned a new crackdown by police on unsafe — distracted — drivers, a practice that should be a continuous effort. Statistics show that more emphasis needs to be placed specifically on enforcing the ban on driving while using a cell phone.

Cell phone use can be very dangerous, even unintentionally fatal. Distracted drivers are a leading cause of accidents in the United States, whether it be texting or talking, even using hands-free devices.
In 2008, 800,000 Americans were talking or texting on cell phones while driving in the daylight hours. Such distractions resulted in almost 6,000 fatalities, a number slightly more than half the total of drunken driving fatalities for that year. This disturbing trend, if permitted to continue on our roads, will have serious consequences.
Cell phones “arrived” 20 years ago. Cars were invented more than 100 years ago. In one-fifth the time, the combination of the two has quickly outpaced the number of drunken driving fatalities. We should all find that alarming.
Fortunately, tough laws against drunken driving came into being sometime around the 1980s, resulting in reduced numbers of alcohol fatalities. We need the same kind of tough enforcement now for cell phone use by irresponsible and uncaring motorists.
Police and people

We cannot afford to wait. The consequences are just too dire to do so.
But it will take a combination of law enforcement and individual responsibility to avoid what will become unthinkable numbers of cell phone-related fatalities.
Cell phone use while driving is still in its infancy. Motorists have been distracted behind the wheel for years, reading maps and newspapers, eating, adding make-up or combing one’s hair, changing stations on the radio or having deep conversations with passengers.
But even adding all those other distractions together, it doesn’t equal the same level of distraction that cell phone use has had in a short period of time. I don’t know why that is, but I do know the numbers should be a concern to all of us.
Is someone’s life — maybe your own — worth that conversation on a cell phone?
Let’s be safe. Pull over to the side of the road to talk or text. No one deserves the consequence of not doing so, a death or serious injury that could be avoided.
Roberta M. Helming is a freelance writer from Ledyard and regular contributor to the Norwich Bulletin. She can be reached at RMHelming@aol.com



Copyright 2010 Norwich Bulletin. Some rights reserved