Author: Barbara Cipak
According to the "mobileherald.com", as of 2006 the statistical
breakdown worldwide, of the percentage of households, by
country, that own mobile phones are: Japan at 95%, South Korea
at 94%, China at 93%, France at 85%, Germany at 83%, and the UK
at 79%. The article also sites a prediction by Nokia, that by
2009, there will be over 3 Billion people using mobile phones
worldwide. The 2005 Cell Phone Ownership statistic was 66% of
the population, that's a population of 297 million people of
which 197 million own cell phones.
According to an article in the MIT Communications Forum, dated
November 2005, by Peter Rauch, then the global ownership of cell
phones was approximately 2 billion users, and in some countries
(he didn't say which), there are more cell phones than people.
Oh my.
New York State, effective November 2001, banned the use of
hand-held cell phones. Governor George Pataki, was quoted in a
June 2001 article posted by CNN, as saying, using a cell phone
while driving poses "an enormous threat to public safety."
Handheld Cell Phone devices are currently banned in Connecticut,
New Jersey DC, and Washington DC. Californians are going to have
to go handsfree as well in 2008, according to the Law signed by
Governor Schwarzenegger in the fall of 2006.
In Canada, the only province at this time to have a ban on the
use of hand-held cell phones while driving, is Newfoundland and
Labrador. Other provinces are being pressured into passing
similar legislation, and this fall, Quebec may enact a similar
law. Part of the hesitation of such laws, is the concern for the
lack of precedence and the challenges that ultimately come with
new Laws. Collision statistics for Newfoundland from 2003 to
2005 indicate a reduction of accidents by eight percent.
More than 30 countries have outlawed the use of hand-held
cellphones while driving, including Australia, Germany and
Japan. Here's a very useful web-page, providing a detailed list
of Countries that have banned cell phones while driving - A very
useful web-page for travelers by car.
Opponents of these bans believe the Law singles out cell phones
when there are many other causes for distracted driving. Also,
some say banning hand-held cell phones adds little to address
the larger problem of distracted driving, and could actually
encourage riskier habits, such as BlackBerry usage or text
messaging. If you're a stats person, you may find this Paper - -
on the "Effect of Car Phone Usage on Cognitive Ability and
Driving Performance", a very interesting read. Much to the
disagreement of the above opponents, the results of this study
concluded that "car phone use is dangerous and caution should be
used". But "Opponents" don't despair yet! A New Zealand Fact
Finding Article entitled "Cell Phone Use While Driving - Summary
of Research and Analysis", studying car accidents and cell phone
usage, drew a conclusion at the time the study was compiled,
September 2003, that cell phone usage was not a significant
factor in car crashes, compared to other distractions. Whether
this conclusion for New Zealand today, still stands, probably
requires another study.
Well, to sum this up, according to an article in the December
2006 issue of USA Today, entitled, "Distracted driving big cause
of crashes", "distracted driving is emerging as nearly as
serious a factor as speeding and impaired driving...", so it
would certainly be foolish to leave this article thinking "it's
all the fault of the cell phone". In fact, in this same article
it sites Washington States tracking of 12 specific driver
distractions as outlined in a recent study by the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Cell Phone Usage
did rank in first place as the top item causing driver
distraction. The other top distractions are DVD Players,
Satellite Radios, Hand-Held Organizers, iPods, Global
Positioning Systems, Kids, Pets, Fast Food, Hot Beverages,
Newspapers, Road Side Accidents, and Signs & Billboards. I think
that's 13?
About The Author: Author, Barbara Cipak, Site Owner of
http://My-Telework-Tools.com, featuring Tools such as Cell Phone
Comparisons, and other Virtual Tools for the Mobile Worker &
Small Business at
http://www.my-telework-tools.
