Cell phone use while driving is becoming one of the most talked about concerns among many people nowadays. Now I just learned yesterday while driving home and listening to the radio News 91.9 that teenagers are now pasting or taping their cell phones to the steering wheel while driving. Crazy! Now they are able to text people while driving a lot more now. This concerns me as well as a lot of people I’m sure. If this trend is starting now, this endangers not only the young teenagers life but the lives of innocent people as well. Texting while driving needs to stop and perhaps ban cell phone use all together.

 Here in New Brunswick we don’t have a cell phone ban in place as of yet but I feel it’s just a matter of time before it comes into effect. Several provinces in Canada have already taken action and a domino effect will surely come to the rest as well. I’ve never heard of “pasting” until yesterday and I’m sure a lot of you haven’t either. The only reason why I learned of it is because someone had called in from The Coalition For Cellphone-Free Driving and talked about many different things being a doctor and what he’s seen. He’s seen many tragedies as a result of cellphone use while driving and kids are telling him what happened but when it comes to the police they lie and say they weren’t on their cell phones to try and get out of trouble. It was very interesting hearing the statistics and facts on accidents and how cellphones are increasing deaths and injuries as a result of them. After hearing him speak it definitely is something that needs to be done. Cellphone use while driving is killing our children and perhaps someone else’s loved one. Something needs to be done.

What do you think of teenagers pasting their cellphones to the steering wheel? Pretty nuts isn’t it! How would you feel if your child was injured or even killed as a result of some teenager texting while driving with their cellphone pasted to the steering wheel? Something needs to be done and I think more education should be brought into schools about proper and safe cellphone use. We need to sink the message into our teenagers and even adults that use cellphones while driving especially texting can kill. Education and strict laws concerning cell phone use need to be set into place. What do you think about this issue? Pasting cell phones to steering wheels, what next?

Cell phones

 
Well Nova Scotia already has that law enforced and cell phone use banned and I feel that this will cause a chain reaction among our other provinces in Canada. The question is, do you think cell phones have increased the amount of car accidents and deaths as a result of cell phone use? Yes it probably has. We all live a stressful life, working, picking up kids, multi-tasking and we have so much on our mind that you do lose your focus of what your doing, which is driving. I know I do. Imagine driving, trying to focus on the road, kids fighting in background, your trying to take care of business on the cell phone, where is your focus. It’s all split up.

I know when I drive and I’m by myself I talk on the cell phone no problem. Add more distractions in the car and its tough. The reason I am writing this post is to get your views on the matter. I know today there was an incident that happened in our city where a school bus was pulled over and lights flashing, stop sign pulled out and on oncoming car drove right past not even noticing what he did while talking on his cell phone. He only was aware when he was already passed the bus partially and the bus driver layed onto the horn. The child was safe but as you all know when the school bus stops, kids tend to walk right across the road as they believe all is okay. Not many kids walk out, look both ways and then cross, most just begin walking across the road relying on the bus driver. All parents should talk about this with their kids to always look no matter if the lights are flashing and the stop arm is out. This is a perfect explanation as to why.

Now back to cell phones I personally would not like to see a ban on cell phone use while driving. Some people should be banned but its either all or nothing. I believe the problem lies more with the texting issue. If they did ban cell phone use think of how many times we would have to pull over as calls come in. On top of that pulling over on the side of the road depending on where we are can be hazardous as well. Should cell phones really be banned? Talks are going on but what do you think? Think of how hard it would be to run your delivery business? What about taxis, should their CB radios be banned too, they are driving all day, they have short conversations but hey, it’s still a communication device. What about truckers, the list goes on.

I do think however that talking on the cell phone while driving is acceptable depending on your distractions around you. Too much going on, let your voice mail pick it up. I do think that people should not text while driving as that’s just bad news. For all of those who do, I have no idea how you do it. Some people even search the Internet? Something people could do is get those hands free headsets so you have both hands on the wheel. If you think of it like this, is it really different talking to a voice in the car coming from a headset or talking to the person sitting right next to you. Regardless a person can get so caught up in a conversation on the phone as they can while chatting to someone in the car. It can be distracting either way. If our kids are screaming in the back of the car, should we ban our kids from the car too? I’m sure you all will have some points to this question for sure.

Do I think cell phones have caused more accidents and deaths because of them? I do. You must ask yourself though why? I believe car accidents are more caused by searching on the Internet or texting people while driving and this is something I think people shouldn’t do. Talking on the phone however, I think people should be able to talk on cell phones while driving. One thing I suggest to people is have your cell phone next to you, out of your pocket, out of your purse and within reach. Accidents are most likely caused by women searching for their cell phone, reaching down into their purse and for men getting it out of their pocket. Somethings can be done to make it safer and texting people while driving is the biggest one people shouldn’t do.

Cell phones are a major part of our everyday life. Do you think cell phones should be banned while driving in New Brunswick? and what can people do to be safer cell phone users? People will be for and people will be against this controversial topic but share your thoughts and stories. Also do you think just because Nova Scotia has a ban on cell phone use while driving will the rest of the provinces follow suit. There’s no doubt that cell phones saves lifes and improves our everyday way of life but like anything there are always pros and cons. What do you think?