Petition to ban the use of cell phones while driving

Petition to ban the use of cell phones while driving

After several close calls, both as a pedestrian and as a driver I started to do some research. What I found out was completely overwhelming. Here are a few excerpts from the information I have gathered. Ill let the data speak for its self.

University of Montreal

A study of some 36,000 drivers,
conducted by researchers at the University
of Montreal in 2003, discovered that
the risk of crashing, with or without
injuries, is 38 per cent higher for cell
phone users.

UMNnews (University of Minnesota)

Published on July 25, 2005

We've all heard the adage, "Don't drink and drive." Should emphasis also be given to "Don't talk on the phone and drive?" According to a new study at the University of Minnesota, talking on the phone while driving is more likely to impair your ability to drive safely than if you were drunk.
University Study Examines Dangers of Cell Phone Use While Driving
7:00 am on July 5, 2006 | Category: Mobile Devices, Cell Phones


A recent study by the University of Utah suggests that using a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle could be as dangerous as drinking and driving. They study examined the effect of distractions on 40 participants, each of whom tried to use a driving simulator while talking on a cell phone, using a hand-free headset, drinking alcohol to the legal limit, and with no distractions whatsoever.

The drivers who drank a legal amount of alcohol managed to stay in control of their virtual cars, while three of the mobile phone users were involved in three (virtual) accidents, the study found. The cell phone users were also 9\% slower in their brake reaction time than undistracted drivers, and tended to vary their speed more often.

From ICBC in 2000

5.Conclusions

Listening and responding to relatively complex messages, as might occur when using a hands-free cellular telephone to conduct business or deal with important domestic issues, was found to significantly degrade driving performance in a series of driving tasks. The extent to which this degradation occurred seemed connected to the complexity of the driving manoeuvre. Commonly encountered traffic signal-related choices tended to elicit conservative decision-making in the presence of the messages but the somewhat less common events of weaving and left turning demonstrated a significant negative impact of message attention.

Cell Phone Use While Driving.. Does It Increase The Likelihood Of an Accident?: Insurers Financial Group

The Problem:
The National Safety Council in the United States and a British study conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory found cell phone use while driving significantly reduces driving performance-even hands free. The latter study went further to elude that the study groups with cell phones had worse results than impaired drivers. These results seem to comport with the assertions that driving and talking is multi-tasking and brain activation is substantially decreased when these two tasks are performed simultaneously.


This is a small portion of the information I have gathered. If you increase the scale of the search you will find that 45 countries have banned the use of cell phones while driving. The number of studies and the amount of information is staggering. This begs the question, with this much information why is cell phone use while driving still legal? Whose interests are being served?