Is technology creating more distracted drivers?

By Lauren Barron

ATHENS, Ga.--Think twice before you pull out that cell phone, change a song on your iPod or punch in an address on your GPS while driving. You could be endangering not only your life, but the lives of others.

University of Utah psychologists published a study in 2005 showing that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free cell phones are as impaired as drunken drivers.

“Driving while talking on a cell phone is as bad or maybe worse than driving drunk,” said study co-author Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology. “[It] is completely unacceptable and cannot be tolerated by society.”

There are currently no bans in Georgia on cell phone usage while driving, unless you’re a school bus driver, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

However, 19 states now ban text messaging for all drivers, and Georgia may soon be following in their footsteps.

The Georgia Legislature is currently considering House Bills 938 and 944, which would both “prohibit certain use of wireless telecommunications devices by persons while operating a motor vehicle.”

These bills are sponsored by Rep. Allen Peake and Rep. Amos Amerson, respectively.

Legislators are unsure about the bills’ chances of success because they raise questions of how officers may not have a right to examine an electronic device or phone records without a court order. Their fear is that people would view a search of their cell phones as an invasion of privacy.

Right now there is no accurate method for proving that a person is using a cell phone while driving.

“Monitoring something like that would be ridiculous,” said Wade Edwards, a fourth year pre-vet major. “At least with speeding, cops can use radar guns.”

The TechKnowledgists conducted a non-scientific survey of 53 University of Georgia students studying at the Zell B. Miller Learning Center with the question, “If the state of Georgia passed a law banning the use of cell phones (texting and talking) while driving, would you abide by it?”

In the results, 49 percent said yes and 51 percent said no.

Many UGA students said they would be more likely to follow a ban against texting and driving, but not a ban against talking and driving. Some said they would more likely to follow cell phone restrictions if they had the option of using hands-free devices.

Several cities such as Chicago have adopted the ban of cell phones but allow Bluetooth and hands-free devices for all mobile use.

“I agree with that,” said Andrew Brandt, a third-year international affairs major from Lawrenceville, Ga. “Texting should be a felony…you might as well be drunk.”

Distracted driving is a serious, life-threatening process, according to two different studies.

A 1997 New England Journal of Medicine study examined hospital records and a 2005 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study linked crashes to cell phone records, both concluding that drivers who use cell phones are four times more likely to be involved in a crash.

In an effort to spread awareness about the dangers of texting and driving,Verizon Wireless helped enact the nation’s first state-wide texting ban in California and is currently running a “Don’t Text and Drive” Campaign.

“We support federal legislation to ban texting and e-mailing while driving,” said Verizon Wireless vice president Steven Zipperstein.

Many states impose laws or are contemplating creating laws limiting or banning the use of cell phones because of how distracting they can be to the driver, but these states may not be considering how distracting other electronic devices can be.

“I almost got in a few wrecks from looking at my iPod,” said Nathan Vessels, a third-year finance major from Cartersville, Ga. “The main thing I would do is get into the other lane because I wasn’t looking.”

The official U.S. government Web site for distracted driving provides a constant streaming list of daily news stories involving this topic. For more information, visit www.distraction.gov.

The site hopes to leave viewers with one clear message: “Put it down!”

Edited by Stacie Luke