cell phones and accidents

1. Year 2013 Cell Phones and Accidents in Sri Lanka
Millions of Sri Lankans willingly admit that they talk on their cell phones while operating a
motor vehicle. Does this sound safe? There are more than 17 million cell phone users ( still
growing) in Sri Lanka and the percentage wise it is similar to a usage in a developed country.
Everybody admits that cell phone use while driving is not a safe practice. But as a population of
multi-taskers we seem incapable of stopping ourselves.
Phoning and driving equals a Drunk Driver
Automobiles and cell phones don’t mix. Studies in other countries implies driving while talking
on a cell phone reduces a driver’s response time to the same levels observed in drunk drivers.
Even though automakers initially built mobile phones into car systems, and they continue to
design successive generations of sophisticated telecommunications bundles, mounting evidence
suggest distractions from cell phones increase accidents.
Hands-Free could be more dangerous
Drivers that simply involve themselves in a conversation suffer debilitating distractions. Hands-
free phones may even lead drivers to believe they are safer, argue some safety advocates.
Complex business transactions and emotionally involved conversations reduce driver
reaction times and steal away attention. on the part of all drivers. This has to be taken into
consideration very seriously when driving in newly introduced highways in Sri Lanka where the
speed exceeds 100 Kms. A split second distraction would cause an accident.
Next Gen Automotive
Next generation autos are bundled with sophisticated on-board telecommunications equipment
that seems determined to defy the growing amount of statistics on driver distractions. Their
argument: everything’s hands-free. This is a fallacy. Instead, auto makers should produce safer
vehicles for the world.
What to do?
We need consumer education. We have to make all telephone service providers to use at least
20% of an advertisement to indicate the dangers of using cell phones whilst driving whether it is
hands free or not. A complete ban of using cell phones whilst driving may not be possible at all
in our country but a wider discussion/ debate has to be started about this problem before it
becomes a menace and go out of proportion.
As an individual, make a resolution in the New Year not to phone and drive. That’s the
best you can do for yourself as well as for the society.
Please circulate this among friends
Maxwell Ranasinghe
Managing Director - M.M.Organisation