My daughter asked me the other day “How old do I have to be to have a cell phone?” This made me think back to how old I was when I got my first cell phone. I was 25. She is 10. The world today is not the same as it was just 21 years ago when I was a 10 year old girl. I recall my dad getting his first “car phone”. It was a huge thing bolted to the floor board of his 1988 Buick Regal. We thought it was awesome. I think the cost was around $4 per minute to make a phone call.
Today everyone has a cell phone. On those cell phones there are about 75 billion text messages that are sent each month. A recent survey had 77% of the respondents admitting to texting while driving. Did you know that using a cell phone while driving can delay your reaction as much as having a blood alcohol concentration as much as .08 percent? (Source: University of Utah)
In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in the U.S. and an estimated 448,000 we injured in crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. (Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System and General Estimates System)
The less than 20 age group had the highest proportion of distracted drivers with the 20-29 year olds coming at a close second.
Based on these statistics I will make two decisions:
1) I will keep my phone in the back seat while I am driving – just to avoid the temptation;
2) My daughter will get her cell phone when she is about 35.
