I'm not diminishing the seriousness of drunk driving here, but just as big a problem (if not more) are perfectly sober people talking on their cell phones while driving. I believe I read this is now the #1 cause of traffic accidents.
I'd tend to believe the percentage of serious accidents are higher for drunken drivers, but for sheer volume cell phone talkers are #1. Do a little visual survey next time you're in your car. It's absolutely insane how many people are chatting away.
I totally agree Redz. Definitely drunk driving is more dangerous, but it's the volume that makes cell phone driving such a danger. So many people do it. And while it doesn't impair your judgement and motor skills like drunk driving does, it does distract you.
Even worse is text driving. This is absolutely asinine, but I've seen it plenty of times. I was driving down a main road and in the car in front of me, I could see a girl's face in her rear view mirror. She was looking down for about 3-4 seconds, and them would look up for a second. Look back down again for a few seconds, and then look up, and so on. I didn't want to be anywhere near this girl on the road, so once it got to two lanes, I went right past her. Sure enough, as I went by there she was texting and hardly paying any attention to the road.
All states should make it against the law to talk on cell phones (and definitely text) while driving. Hands-free phones make it better, but still just the simple act of having a conversation on the phone makes you less aware of your surroundings.
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