By Reporter Joseph Toth
Washington Micro Bank BBS
Submitted 08-12-08
To often I am able to observe the carelessness and danger of the cell phone driver. This is a handy technology indeed, … however there is a time and a place for everything. Using a cell phone behind the wheel of a motor vehicle of any kind is never a good idea.
Here in southeast Wisconsin, I’ve observed countless incidents with cell phones being used by drivers that have caused concerns on the roadway. Lets talk about some of my observations on this.
I spend a lot of time on the road, … for five years I’ve kept notes on this subject. Every time I had a observation, I would go home and document it because I knew someday I would do a article like this.
Here they are folks, … license plate numbers not put in this article for State and Federal privacy law reasons (plate numbers weren’t taken down in all incidents anyway).
Southbound highway 45 through Wauwatosa Wisconsin. A man in a shirt and tie, in the left lane is looking down at his phone while dialing or texting as his car creeps to within inches of the cement center wall. At the last moment he discovers he left his lane and makes a panicky recovery to his lane causing other motorists to honk and stab their brakes. No accident.
Northbound highway 175 at Lilly Road in Menomonee Falls Wisconsin. A woman with a cell phone to her left ear drives straight through a red light as if it wasn’t even there. No accident.
HERE IS A BAD ONE! Southbound highway 74 through the village of Sussex Wisconsin. A teenage girl in the left lane is doing half the speed limit while talking on the cell phone. This caused a frustrated dump truck driver to pass her on the right. As the dump truck passed the cell phone driver, he threw a full wax paper soft drink cup across her windshield causing her to pull over off the road. Then as I passed, this is where I saw it was a teenage girl. No accident.
Eastbound Menomonee Avenue at Hwy. 175 in front of Walgreens in Menomonee Falls Wisconsin. A woman with a cell phone to her ear sits through two green lights as she waves her right hand around in conversation while she is on the phone. In the middle of traffic, blocking traffic, … and totally unaware of the world around her. No accident.
Westbound County Line Road at highway 175 in Germantown Wisconsin. I’m in the left turn lane. I notice the man to my right is on the phone while we wait for the lights to change. The cross traffic gets the red light. My lane gets the green arrow to turn south. As my green arrow turned green, the cell phone driver next to me stepped on the gas and drove through his red light cutting off the motorists across from me having the opposite green arrow to turn north. No accident.
Milwaukee County Zoo parking lot in Milwaukee Wisconsin. A cell phone driver backing out of a parking space while talking on the phone succeeds in clearing his parking spot, but backs up to far across the isle and backs into a parked motorcycle in the row behind him, causing it to tip over onto it’s side. The man gets out, stands the bike back up and then drives away. Legally this one is considered a traffic accident.
As I mentioned above, these are notes from over a 5 year time frame. I may also mention these are just things that I’ve seen. Can you imagine how much of this is happening that I don’t see. And I’m talking about all over America. My guess is it happens way to much. Cell phone driving is dangerous and I’m quite sure cell phones are responsible for a great number of accidents in America.
Until cell phone driving becomes illegal, it should be standard procedure for law enforcement at accident scenes to search the accident scene for cell phones and pull the cell phone records of any phones found.
My opinion is that cell phone driving is no different than driving drunk or wasted. Cell phone driving should be outlawed across the country. We don’t need to be on the phone while we drive, … our past proves that. From the dates of the first automobiles to the 1970’s and 1980’s motorists were driving without this device. There is no reason why we have to drive with it now.
September 01, 2008 Marshfield Wisconsin started enforcing their new cell phone driving law. As of this date, if you cell phone drive in this area, you will get pulled over and be given a ticket.
Thank you Marshfield Wisconsin for being the brave first area to jump into this with other peoples safety in mind. This is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough. We need more cities, towns and villages to do what Marshfield is doing. By doing this we can say we took a step in the direction of reducing the amount of traffic accidents that happen on our roadways.
