Alistair's+Argument+Writing

Alistair, Callum

Banning the use of mobile phones while driving
Recently using mobile phones while driving has become more common and is becoming more and more dangerous. To improve safety on the roads, mobile phones should be banned while driving. Between 2002 and 2007 there were 411 injury crashes and 27 fatal crashes caused by the use of mobile phones while driving. This argument won’t just stop mobile phones being used while driving, it will also save lives.

10 years ago mobiles were unnecessary; everyone coped without mobile phones then, so why do people always need to be using them nowadays. When people use a handset one hand is taken of the controls, making it easier to have a crash. If the government were to ban the use of phone while driving, that will reduce the amount of crashes happening in total. If a driver needs to make a phone call urgently; the driver can pull over into a parking lane or a side lane so the driver can make a call safety, without risking other people. Dangerous driving endangers not only the individual driver but also passengers and pedestrians. Using a hands free kit could be an option, but at the same time the voice activation technology can be unreliable, making the driver get frustrated and loosing concentration. For some reason the brain treats a telephone conversation differently compared to talking to a passenger, perhaps because the passenger is also aware of the road hazard, where the mobile phone caller cannot be aware of the road hazard.

Research shows very little difference between using a handheld compared to a hands free kit, in terms of impaired concentration and breaking reactions in a breaking test. In New Zealand research shows that using a mobile is more dangerous than being drunk. The problem with driving and talking on mobile phones is you get sucked into the conversation and the conversation starts to take precedence over the driving task. New laws would be enforceable; as mobile phone records would be able to show if the phone was in use at the time. If camera technology were to be improved; with automatic detection of drivers who are using their phones would be another solution. It would be unfair to ban one sort of mobile phone and allow another type of mobile phone that is just as dangerous. You don’t have to hold a mobile phone to be distracted, all the driver has to do is think about conversation with a person and their concentration is partly lost.

But on the other hand mobile phones can be useful for reporting accidents to emergency services, to alert the police about dangerous driving etc. Mobile phones don’t kill people the dangerous drivers do; and banning the use of mobile phones while driving will only penalise all the good drivers without removing any bad drivers.

Therefore using a mobile phone while driving will most of the time be dangerous. I say that mobile phones should be banned because they distract the driver; but also drivers should be allowed to use their mobile phones if they are contacting emergency services. So should mobile phones be banned?