Persuasive Writing

Should Using Cell Phones While Driving Be Banned?

Banning cell phone usage while driving may sound like a good idea to some, but this is just one more example of big brother taking over your life. We all know that the only thing you should be doing while at the wheel of a car is watching the road and driving.  The question is whether or not it should be illegal to use a cell phone while driving, and if you should be labeled a criminal if you do.  The answer is a resounding NO!

How many times have we been driving down the street and watched people doing all sorts of things in their cars that they shouldn’t be doing?  Why aren’t we going after them? I’m talking about the men who shave and the women who apply makeup and do their hair.  I’m talking about people that eat, read the newspaper, watch TV, run their GPS unit, dig for lost tokens, use their laptops, search for CDs, and discipline the kids in the back seat.  Aren’t all of those things just as dangerous, or even more dangerous, than dialing a cell phone? Why aren’t we passing laws to forbid them?

Driving a car requires two things: a license and personal responsibility.  The license is the easy part and can be obtained by almost anyone.  The far more important attribute is personal responsibility. It’s something that many of us learned at an early age in life and it has stuck with us ever since.  It has a lot to do with using our intelligence and common sense while driving. Common sense dictates that you drive safely at all times with the primary goal of not endangering your life and the lives of your passengers and others on our nation’s highways. Simply put, this means that you do smart things and avoid doing anything dumb. Anyone with a driver’s license should be expected to be able to do this without passing new laws.  If they don’t measure up, they shouldn’t have a license to begin with.

To date, five states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws prohibiting driving while talking on handheld cell phones. Some states, such as Utah and New Hampshire, treat cell phone use as a larger distracted driving issue.  Drivers that are distracted for any reason are a danger to themselves and others, and they should be dealt with accordingly.  The police already have sufficient authority to stop anyone that is not driving safely, and they do not need new laws for such purposes.

Our country was founded on the principles of small government and individual freedoms, and the Bill of Rights guarantees those freedoms.  The founding fathers recognized the inherent risk of granting some freedoms to people who may not appreciate them or understand how to properly exercise them.  Beyond that, they also understood that liberty in its truest sense would expose us to certain dangers that might otherwise be controlled were we to sacrifice our liberties.  It was never more beautifully expressed than through the immortal words of Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Franklin’s message rings more true today than at any time in our history.  The government has been on a mission to limit our freedoms under the pretext of protecting us from others as well as ourselves.  The legal attacks on cell phones represent one more nick in the armor of personal freedom that is being justified as necessary to ensure our safety. The American people have the right to decide how many of their freedoms they want to give up, and don’t need the government to intrude and tell them what’s best for them. As Abraham Lincoln eloquently stated at the Gettysburg battlefield, we are a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”  Let’s not ever forget that.

Freelance Writing by Michael Sanibel ^SM —  Freelance Writer