Put down that phone!

In his article commenting on the use of cellphones being hazardous to our ability to drive, Derrick Jackson calls out to politicians to end the legal use of cellphones whilst driving. Amongst the many sources he cites that back up his claim on the necessary ban of cellphone use while driving the one he gets from a 2003 Harvard study very clearly brings some potent numbers to our attention. Though I do agree that sometimes a call may be just too important to ignore, such as a job offering or perhaps information about ones family you have been waiting on, but that fact that it can cause this much damage is most concerning. There have been times in my own life where I have taken a call or sent a text while and as soon as I was done realized I had no recollection of the previous five to ten minutes of the drive, which is the scariest thing to me. Though our generation has grown up being one with technology and it is hard to even momentarily put it down for the fear of being left behind or being out of the loop for even a second, perhaps in order to curb the effects just one call or text can have on us it is necessary to ban their use while behind the wheel. His claims and information about the hazardous effects of cellphone are hard to ignore seeing as they are from pretty reputable sources and as such make them ever the more potent to his argument. As sad as it may be to not be in touch with our peers for even a five minute drive, if it would cut down on almost 3,000 deaths and 300,000 injuries then a law banning the use would be a necessity. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/07/21/politicians_can_you_hear_me_now/