Erin Nolinske
ENGL 1001.65
Mitch Frye
30 October 2008
Cell phones are becoming more technologically advanced in each new phone that comes out. Whether it is talking to a friend or many of the other options phones these days have. People are always doing something that is distracting while driving. Two states have created laws that have banned the use of cell phones behind the wheel. Texting messaging while operating a vehicle should be an enforced traffic violation.
“An estimated 20 percent of drivers are sending or receiving text messages while behind the wheel, according to a Nationwide Insurance” (Schulte 1). For most teenagers, a cell phone is a cause of a car accident. Most parents tell their child not to use their phone while driving, but what child obeys their parents all the time. A cell phone is the most distracting product, but then can be very helpful with communication. The representative Joyce McDonald and R-Puyallup have introduced a bill to ban text messaging altogether while driving and other representatives are pushing a bill that will prohibit teenagers that have an intermediate license from text messaging and talking on the phone. (Santos 1)
Researchers are trying to find the role of cell phones in car crashes. People say it would just be easier to use hand-free devices to talk on the phone while driving. There is only one problem with that, you can’t text message. You are limited to what you can do which is only talking. Majority of the people would much rather text than talk on the phone. Representatives would like to ban all kinds of talking whether it is with a phone in hand or a hand-free device. There are also many other distracting things that can cause accidents such as eating, applying make-up, changing a CD, or having over the limit of people in the car, all these activities should be banned also. A cell phone is one thing but what about the rest? (Santos 3 and 4)
Texting has become a bigger issue. Legislation in sixteen other states is considering outlawing the use of cell phones behind a wheel of a vehicle. “..American adults believe that sending text messages of E-mails while driving is “distracting, dangerous, and should be outlawed”” (Schulte 1). The states that are considering passing the bills now are: Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. (Schulte 1)
“In Iowa, Democratic Rep. McKinley Bailey proposed a texting ban that would target only beginning drivers, ages 16 and 17. He wrote the bill because of several text-related accidents after the last legislative session ended.” The bill that McKinley proposed was considered discrimination against younger teenagers. Other parties are trying to ban the use of cell phones for all ages of drivers. (Schulte 2)
Work Citied
Santos, Melissa. "Texting while driving: Should it be a crime?" Seattle Post-Intelligencer 29 Jan.: 1+. 30 Oct. 2008 http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/301561_cellphones29.html
Schulte, Bret. “Outlawing Text Messaging While Driving Legislators in several states respond to safety concerns.” U.S. News & World Report 11 Feb. 2008:1-2. 29 Oct. 2008
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/02/11/outlawing-text-messaging-while-driving.html.
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1 comment:
Good research, but the paper has problems that need to be addressed. First and foremost, you really need to fit your quotes into your own writing. They need to be introduced and/or incorporated into your own sentences. See below for an example:
Studies show that cell phone usage has substantially increased the annual number of accidents involving teenagers. One such study suggests, "If some restrictions were placed on the use of cell phones while driving, young people would be involved in far fewer crashes."
Also, you need to be careful about making very general, very vague statements like, "For most teenagers, a cell phone is a cause of a car accident." If that's true, it needs to be backed up with proof.
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