The use of cell phones is dangerous and leads to automobile accidents and wrongful death says a national safety group which is advocating a total ban on cell phone use while driving. The group, National Safety Council, says that both hand held and hands-free cell phone use should be banned. Janet Froetscher, the group’s president has likened cell phone use to drunk driving because it increases the potential for a crash four fold.
“Studies show that driving while talking on a cell phone is extremely dangerous and puts drivers at a four times greater risk of a crash,” she said speaking of the 1997 examination of records by the New England Journal of Medicine.
California and Washington along with four other states have banned hand held cell phone use while driving, but no state has yet to ban cell phone use entirely.
Froetscher says that hands-free cell phones are just as risky as hand held phones. “It’s not just what you’re doing with your hands–it’s that your head is in the conversation and so your eyes are not on the road,” Froetscher stated.
