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Cell Phone Use While Driving

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Cell Phone Use While Driving The new technology of cell phones has helped advance the world in which we live. There are over 100 million people in the United States that have and use cell phones. Driver distraction due to cell phone usage is a plague that is causing more and more car accidents every year. People quickly forget that driving is a privilege and not a right. What are different states doing about it? Should it be a concern of ours? Did you know that car crashes are the leading cause of death in the U.S.? The statistics of car accidents due to cell phone usage is a hot topic for lawmakers, cell phone manufacturers, and concerned citizens. A study by the National Safety Council found that 8 out of 10 people use their cell phones while driving and that 1 out of 5 text while driving. Cell phones are a factor in six percent of all car crashes which equates to 636,000 crashes, 330,000 injuries, 12,000 serious injuries and 2,600 deaths. These are shocking statistics that easily can be prevented by refusing to use your phone while driving. Research done by the Iowa Civic Analysis Network said, “National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that distracted driving contributes to 25% of all police-reported traffic accidents. The most common distraction is cell phone use, which increases the likelihood of an accident by approximately 300%.” One of our problems as Americans is that we like to multi-task. On average Americans spend twenty five minutes commuting to work (citation). Driving is the main task at hand but quickly becomes secondary to phone calls regarding business, family, and friends. How many of us have seen people doing their makeup, eating, and/or talking on their cell phone while driving and witnessed first hand the inability of a driver to stay in his own lane? A growing concern for the ramifications of injury due to cell