Cell phone and driving. Why do you underestimate the risks?
There is little to be done. Perhaps the recent proposals to penalize more heavily on mobile phones (even when used with a handsfree or headset) are provocations. But in fact we are dealing with a system that is not aimed at creating conditions to reduce the use of mobile for driving. With all the ensuing consequences int terms of safety. The opportunity to write this post comes from reading an interesting article in The New York Times published on December 6 last year and unambiguously titled: " Promoting the Car Phone, Despite Risks . "
In America, you know, the phone has come before and before you knew it was dangerous. In 1984 the AAA (American Automobile Association) invited its members to stop and pull over the car before using the phone. Some years (1991) after the same AAA realizable studies under which demonstrated that the risk of accident was (then) more than 4 times higher in those who used to use the phone while driving: drivers talking on a cell phone, in fact, had difficult to react to unexpected driving situations. It has been almost twenty years. Then came more detailed studies on the decline of attention, sull'allentamento reflexes, increasing exposure to risk: in 2005 the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminsitration (NHTSA) has collected 150 papers on the subject! All with the same conclusions, which were devices "hands-free" (in practice with hands-free system) devices, or "handled" (with the use of hands). Even now the AAA is committed to supporting campaigns , and changes laws for the protection of drivers (the proposed ban in all 50 U.S. states of typing on the iPhone - currently 18, including California).
Needless to hide it. The cell phone companies are behind and profits associated with the use of cellular messages and use data services. And 'this, in my opinion, represents and will represent a brake. It 's much cheaper "regular" cell phone use, rather than ban it at all. Avevte ever seen a campaign of TIM, VODAFONE, THREE about it? The only beneficial, insert earphones in-ear package, which among other things I think are of dubious legality, since the actual earphones (forbidden).
On the other hand, you continue to release applications for iPhone, BlackBeerry with maps, traffic flow, points interessesocial network and various toys. "Always connected" is the motto. Products intended for a wide array of consumers. Without information on their hazards. And it always will be .... we have to take more awareness. And educate.
The "new" frontier is precisely this in my opinion. Typing ("texting while driving"), the mail received, the status update on social networks. And on this business (at least those amerciane) seem to agree with researchers who argue that it is dangerous to drive and type the phone. For this reason, awareness campaigns in the United States are focused on this aspect ("texting"), as part of the broader concept of distraction.
But because the companies that seem to agree with the scientific community about the dangers of "texting", does not share the alarm launched by research on the dangers of driving talking on the phone? And because most people underestimate the risks associated with the use of cell phones, even hands-free conversation incaso?
