Issue - Cell Phones While Driving

Cell phones are becoming a large problem while driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that about 80% of all car crashes are due to text messaging and talking on the phone while driving. To minimize the amount of car crashes, the government created many new laws pertaining to this issue.

Maryland adopted text regulations in January of 2010. The most recent text law states that "it is an infraction to write, send, or read text based communication on an electronic wireless communications device, such as a cell phone, while driving a motor vehicle". Not only is texting while driving a very important matter but also talking on your cellular device. The newest law implemented on October 1, 2010, requires Maryland drivers to use only hands-free devices communication devices while operating a motor vehicle. The University of Utah psychologists found that drivers that are talking on the phone while driving are equally impaired as a drunken driver.

I fully agree that regulations are needed to control poor and reckless driving, but these new regulations are superficial and do not address the core issues. Distracted and reckless driving are already motor vehicle citations. The above regulations do not address the seriousness of the problem, and more over they may actually add to the level of distracted drivers. The most recent law has sent people by the thousands out to purchase sophisticated hands-free devices, which may only encourage more people to communicate through these devices while driving. The "Blue tooth" wireless devices are unfamiliar to most users and the features that they contain are a struggle to operate for most users.

While most people are able to dial a phone and hold it to their ear while driving, the new blue tooth technology will require a new learning curve. That learning curve will take place on our roads and highways. I recently saw a 70+ year old women being fit for a blue tooth device at a local Verizon store. Has this women really been struggling with the need to communicate while driving? Will the "hands free craze" and out of pocket expense for a new blue tooth now create incentive for her to use the phone while driving?

We have motor vehicle laws that just need to be enforced. Police officers need to patrol the streets. Poor and reckless driving should be regulated the way it always has been. If you get in an accident because of distracted or reckless driving, you should lose your license. Lives are at stake. A $40 fine and a politically motivated law do not give this problem the appropriate attention. We do not need to add the costs of Blue tooth's and all this attention. The attention should be focused on personal responsibility and the enormous responsibility that operating a motor vehicle really is