Current Issues Project By Julia Brunnette and Kelly Nicole

The Problem Using cell phones while driving a serious world wide problem Studies show that this is as dangerous as drunk driving. (University of Utah published in 2006, issue of human factor.) –First, drivers must take their eyes off the road while dialing. Second, the act of driving is severely impaired, jeopardizing the safety of vehicle occupants and pedestrians. Minnesota has currently issued a bill, but it has not been approved. –Right now, 6 states have completely banned cell phone usage. 7 states have been banned for just texting use. 9 states ban novice drivers from using a cell phone, 4 states ban texting with school bus drivers.

Solution to the Problem? There are a couple of solutions to the problem –Everyone could pull over when they drive –The bill for all cell phones to be prohibited could be approved.

What have we done? ed some letters to the editor –Star Tribune –Pioneer Press Made people more aware –Made a poll online –Asked people on a survey ed Paul Gardner

What have we done? (Con) The online poll was done in Para- island.deviantart.com The total number of people who took the poll was 135. The question: Do you believe that driving and talking on your cell phone at the same time is dangerous? (only pertaining to holding it up to your ear) 72 said Yes to all the time, 31 said it depends if you are a good enough driver, 27 said it depended on the situation, and 5 said no.

What have we done? (Con) We tried to get people on MSN and the site Deviantart.com to take a survey All people interviewed were very supportive of this bill. Most people thought that head sets were the way to go. Only a few mentioned that nothing should be distracting you while driving.

What have we done? (Con) We sent letters to 2 newspapers: Star Tribune and Pioneer Press (Northstar.sierraclub.org) We have no idea if this got to them or not because we didn’t receive any conformation nor do we know if our letter was on the newspaper or not. Overall, we hoped this brought a little more awareness to people.

What have we done? (con) We contacted Paul Gardner. He was very supported of this bill passing. The questions we asked were: –What is your stance on this issue –Have you taken any steps addressing this issue in your legislative tenure? –Do you have any suggestions on people my age could do to help encourage this issue? He told us he personally doesn’t use cell phones while driving and he “would likely support such a measure or at least require a hands-free device.” Quote: My suggestion would be to have a large number of students generate more interest in legislation. There is always strength in numbers. We are out of time this year but if you can help generate hundreds of letters, s, and calls, it certainly gets our attention. It sometimes takes years to pass legislation so a lot of patience and organization is required!

Has any action happened? The only active bills are the ones proposed in Currently there is a law that bans texting while driving There is also a law that states that people under 18 cannot use cell phones while driving.

Any action in the future? There are no pending action for this problem Not enough support for this

Reflection I don’t believe our efforts really did make a difference besides the fact that we informed people of the problem and that it should be addressed. This problem wasn’t hard to get involved with since people were very supportive of this in general. I believe the best way to get our point across is like Paul Gardner said: we should generate hundreds of letters, s and calls we could get the point across.