To Ban Or Not To Ban
Teen traffic fatalities due to cell phone use have risen 40%, 11 teenagers die every day from texting and driving. That is over 4,000 teen deaths every year; more than all the school shootings, knife attacks, and bombings put together. (The school event with the most deaths was in Bath Township Michigan in 1927 when explosive devices were wired into the school. Almost 44 children died. http://time.com/4492872/kehoe-attack-history/ )
Why is there no national outcry against it? Cell phones + cars are as lethal a combination as drugs + alcohol. We would not give our children drugs and tell them to wash it down with a shot of whiskey, yet teens are still given cell phones and car keys. Where are the demands for automobile manufacturers and cell phone manufacturers to be more responsible and stop killing our children? Demands for implanted devices that do not allow the vehicle and phone to work in tandem? If the vehicle is running the phone will not work.
When a post pops up on social media concerning guns, there is an immediate battle between pro and anti-gun proponents. When a post pops up on cell phones and the deaths they cause, there is silence. No one wants to engage that debate. Why? Is it because teenagers are dying in smaller numbers that are spread out over 50 states, and no one takes notice or adds up the numbers? Or is it simply a matter of convenience? It is easy to fight against something like guns when you do not own one, do not want one, and wouldn’t use one if you had it. But almost everyone has a cell phone. People want to be connected to the world every moment. It would be a great inconvenience if that connection had to be lost while driving. No one seems to be fighting for something that would affect their choices even if it will save our children.
Some facts:
"Every year in the U.S., almost a half million people are injured or killed in traffic accidents attributed to the combination of texting and driving."
https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving
"The numbers illustrating the dangers of cell phone use while driving are downright startling. In fact, at any given time throughout the day, approximately 660,000 drivers are attempting to use their phones while behind the wheel of an automobile.
The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year.
Nearly 330,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving.
1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.
Texting while driving is 6x more likely to cause an accident than driving drunk.
Answering a text takes away your attention for about five seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, that's enough time to travel the length of a football field.
Texting while driving causes a 400% increase in time spent with eyes off the road.
11 teens die every day as a result of texting while driving.
21% of teen drivers involved in fatal accidents were distracted by their cell phones.
Teen drivers are 4x more likely than adults to get into car crashes or near-crashes when talking or texting on a cell phone."
https://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cause-of-accident/cell-phone/cell-phone-statistics.html
We need to come together to address ALL the issues affecting and endangering our youth, not pick through the evidence and choose to fight only the convenient fights.
