A new and dangerous habit is developing in the United States and the practice of it is spreading rapidly. This social scourge is called distracted driving and it is especially affecting younger people. Distracted driving is when an individual is driving while using a cell phone, whether they are text messaging, emailing, or calling people According to a survey taken by Nationwide Insurance, eight out of ten drivers want to ban cell phone use all together. This is a deadly habit which should be banned in South Carolina.

Multiple other states have already banned the use of cell phones while driving and for good reasons. Studies show that drivers who are talking on the phone while driving are four times more likely to get in a crash and eight times more likely if they are texting. A distracted driver has the mental impairment equivalent of having four alcoholic drinks. Hands-free cellular devices are also just as dangerous as hands-held cell phones. This is true because it is not the lack of hands on the wheel that is dangerous but the lack of mental focus. The human brain is physically incapable of truly multitasking. Because of this limitation, a ban needs to be put in place.

Many people get lulled into a sense that nothing can happen to them inside their car so they pay less attention to the road and are much more reckless. The theory of social Darwinism states that whenever a new technology is created, many people do not adjust their lives to use it in an appropriate manner. As a result, dangerous situations occur quite often, and will continue to occur until mankind “evolves” socially to use the technology correctly. Nearly 6,000 lives annually are claimed by distracted drivers. That number won’t decrease unless action is taken to stop the cell phone use in cars.

There are many upsetting statistics associated with distracted driving. One of them being that 40 percent of all accidents are caused by distracted drivers. The loss of those poor souls who make up that statistic were torn from this world, their families left distraught, because somebody thought a cell phone call was too important to miss. To stop this epidemic a ban against distracted driving needs installed as soon as possible and violators punished severely. Only after then can we be at ease on our sidewalks and in our cars again.