Should it be illegal for car drivers to use mobile phones while driving?

The popularity of mobile phones, or cell phones, as they are called in American English, has increased greatly in the last few years. Most people in the developed countries regard them as an absolute requisite of life.

So accustomed are people to using their mobiles that many of them expect to be able to use them in their cars also. This is definitely not a good idea. The use of mobile phones in cars should be declared illegal everywhere, as it has already been in some countries. If drivers are to have mobiles in their cars they should be switched off.

Mobile addicts would probably say that mobile phones in cars are essential for their security, especially in cases of emergency. They might even claim that they are essential for their businesses in some way.

If an emergency of some kind occurs, the driver can pull off the road and make the relevant call to get help. If car drivers find their mobiles indispensable for their businesses, they can easily stop at regular intervals and check their answering service for messages. A driver should not use a mobile phone while driving a vehicle.

Safe driving requires all of the drivers’ attention and vigilance. This is certainly not going to be the case if the drivers are involved in telephone calls. The situation is made even more potentially dangerous when drivers are using hand-held mobiles.

As well as having their powers of concentration greatly reduced, the drivers also lose the use of one hand. When someone is driving a vehicle, both hands should be firmly on the steering wheel. Otherwise, the car is not under proper control.

Some countries acknowledge that the use of hand-held mobiles impairs drivers’ ability to drive competently and safely. They, thus, declare the use of these illegal. However, some of these same countries uphold the use of hand-free mobiles. I would argue their use should be banned also.

Admittedly, drivers who are using mobiles that are not hand- held can be in full control of the steering wheel. However, their attention is not fully on their driving. In fact, very little of their attention may be directed at the road ahead if they are engaged in a telephone conversation.

This is particularly true if the telephone conversation is having an effect on the driver’s emotions. Perhaps the person on the other end of the conversation might say something that makes the driver furious, extremely upset or even wildly happy. This may well make the driver’s handling of the vehicle go haywire.

As mobiles have got more and more sophisticated, drivers have become more likely to use their phones in the cars.

This is often not to engage in a conversation. Drivers may be foolish enough to text people while driving. Again, this is very dangerous, because texting requires hands and eyes which should be engaged in keeping a vehicle safely on the road.

Nowadays, many people can access the Internet on their mobiles. They may think that they can safely google something while driving. They are quite wrong. In my view vehicle drivers should be banned from using mobiles in cars in any way while driving. Furthermore, they should be prosecuted for doing so.