Cell Phone 4 ounce, Car 2,800 pounds

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Dana Hildebrand
  • 325th Fighter Wing Ground Safety Office
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Have you ever texted someone while behind the wheel of a vehicle? Texting on your phone, e-mailing via Blackberry, or messing around with your global positioning system, are all leading factors in accidents across the nation. Drivers have turned these 2,800 pound machines, tearing down the highway at speeds of 70 miles per hour and higher, into home offices. 

Although many consider driving under the influence the number one thing not to do, studies show, that texting may be just as bad. An estimated 20 percent of drivers are sending or receiving text messages while behind the wheel, according to a Nationwide Insurance study. In a U.S. News poll, that number skyrockets to 66 percent for drivers age 18 to 24. The practice, especially popular among young people, is exacting a deadly toll. 

As of September 2009, hand-held cell phones are banned for all drivers in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. With the exception of Washington, these laws are all primary enforcement which means an officer may ticket a driver for using a handheld cell phone while driving without any other traffic offense taking place. No state completely bans all types of cell phone use, hand-held and hands-free, for all drivers, but many prohibit cell phone use by certain segments of the population. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia ban all cell phone use by novice drivers or teen drivers. In 17 states and the District of Columbia, school bus drivers are prohibited from all cell phone use when passengers are present. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia now ban text messaging for all drivers. Nine states prohibit text messaging by novice drivers. 

A bill is making its way through the Florida Legislature that would prohibit sending cell phone text messages while driving. If the ban goes through, Florida would join other states in cracking down on texting while driving. 

If a driver's eyes are away from the roadway for two seconds or more in a six-second window, their risk of being involved in a crash is two times higher than an alert driver, according to USA Today. Suddenly, those drivers talking on their cell phones seem relatively harmless, at least when compared to drivers who are staring at their cell phones, texting. In various accredited published studies, some 46 percent of drivers ages 16 and 17 admit to texting while driving. 

Currently on base, the issue of texting while driving has been addressed to the point that it has been publicized that it is not authorized but enforcement is slow to follow and educating the base populace is ongoing. Signs posted at the gates state: cell phone use while driving without a hands-free device is prohibited. These signs were first posted to target drivers talking on their cell phones, but with the explosion of text messaging these signs take on another meaning.