Whose Right Is It Anyway

You are driving down a two-lane highway. You look down at your phone for a split second to see who is calling you. You look up to a car coming straight at you because in that brief second you managed to cross the yellow line. Before you have time to correct yourself, you feel the crash of the car smashing into your hood. Luckily, you survive. But the two victims in the other car are not so lucky.


Life is all about choices. You can make the right choice, or you can make the wrong one; it is up to you. People love having this freedom. In today’s world, no one wants to be told what to do. However, what if these choices affect more than just you? In the previous scenario, that reckless driver made a decision for someone else. That driver decided to look down at his phone and that decision impacted others negatively. Our day-to-day lives are filled with such examples. It can be found in just a simple small talk with your waitress at a local restaurant. They way you decide to treat her can affect her mood for the rest of the evening. If you decide to have an attitude and complain about your food, which has nothing to do with the waitress’s performance, it can put her in a bad mood for the rest of her shift. Not only does this affect the waitress herself, but also may affect the way she acts towards customers the rest of the night. Most all of your decisions impact others in some way, some instances more significantly than others.

There is a time when individual rights need to be overridden. Some people think that the government is doing too much to control the people of the United States, telling them what they can and cannot do. However, it is also their job to protect its people. The government must walk a fine line. How can you determine where regulation is needed and where people need their freedom? In some cases, this line is easy to determine. Some people do not always know what is best, not only for them, but also those around them. Talking and texting on a cell phone while driving is one of those things that people have a hard time realizing is not smart! It is situations like these were it is necessary for the government to step in, override individual rights, and protect its people.

Of course there are some instances where it does appear that the government simply wants to control too much of our lives. The government trying to decrease the obesity rate by imposing tax on unhealthy foods and drinks such as soda exemplifies this over-controlling government. Although these things are obviously not healthy for you, it is not the government’s place to try to regulate what you eat or do not eat. But where can we draw the line? When are we able to say that the government is taking it too far? We like to have pride in our capitalistic government for its freeness is nature. We do not want to live within a dictatorship where we are told when to sleep, what to eat, and where to live. Our government tells us that they support our rights and freedom. Yet, our “free” U.S. government thinks it is their position to put an end to this growing obese nation. Why should the government be allowed to ban cell phones while driving and not be allowed to indirectly prohibit what we are allowed to drink? The answer is simple. What you eat is your own personal decision. You should not have to pay an extra tax just because you want some desert after your healthy dinner. Your decision to drink soda does not impact others. Your decision to use a cell phone while driving, however, does impact others. When a specific right is infringing on other people’s rights and hindering their desired lifestyle, it is time for government intervention.

Yes, sometimes the government does take things too far, as when they try to regulate our beverages. However, sometimes the government has a legitimate reason to step in. When people’s decisions are no longer just their decisions, meaning they also decide things for others, it is time to intervene. People do not realize how significant their decisions are to those around them. Although eating sugary beverages obviously isn’t the best thing for your health, it does not affect anyone around you, nor does it cause immediate harm. Other issues do concern others and can cause immediate harm, such as using a cell phone while driving. This is the determining factor of whether or not it is the government’s responsibility to take control. The government would like to see a law prohibiting cell phone use by drivers. However, people do not support this law banning cell phones for various reasons. Some people believe that it is just another way for the government to have control over us. Others simply want to have the convenient luxury of being able to answer their phone at any given time. While still, others do not even recognize a problem with cell phone usage while driving, so they do not see a need for a law.

Studies have shown that cell phone use is the culprit of 25 percent of automobile accidents. http://www.nationwide.com/  Also, people who are paying attention to their phone have a reaction time similar to that of someone driving under the influence. In fact, Mythbusters confirmed the myth that talking on the phone is just as dangerous as driving drunk. This episode’s videos are posted below. The experimental drivers actually failed the driving test by a greater margin while talking on the phone, NOT while drunk. Not only do distracted drivers have slow reaction time, but these drivers also drive slower overall. People who drive and text or even drive and talk on the phone through a headset are slowing down overall traffic. These people are a nuisance to drive behind because they make sudden stops and then take a while to regain speed. In addition to hindering the flow of traffic, it can also be very dangerous. It is no surprise that distracting cell phones lead to many accidents. If you are paying more attention to your cell phone than the road, accidents are bound to happen. If cell phones are a direct cause of so many accidents, what other way is there to solve this problem then to ban them?

A lot of people do not think this is a problem. So many people get away with texting and making phone calls while driving. They think it is okay because they are able to multitask. Well first, they do not realize that they are slowing down or reacting slower because they are concentrated on the text or call. Second, just because they have been safe so far doesn’t mean that it will remain that way. It only takes one text, one glance down at a phone, to cause a wreck. Whether people want to believe it or not, cell phones are a distraction. People claim that they can text without looking at their phone. While this may be true, they are still focusing on what they are going to say and what buttons to push. It is impossible to have the same level of concentration on the road while typing a text or answering a phone call.

The biggest reason I think that people do not want a law banning cell phones is that cell phones are convenient. Even while driving, being nowhere near a landline, people can get a hold of you. Yes, that is convenient; but is it worth causing accidents over? Nowadays, most everyone lives busy, hectic lives. I realize that people are constantly on the go and are often times in a hurry, but it is really important to be safe. If you need to make a phone call, pull off into a gas station or restaurant to make it. Instead of waiting for a sting of texts to find something out, give them a quick call to figure it out. This is not as convenient, but definitely the safest route to go. I have seen very few people ever pull over just to use a cell phone. However, I see many people continue to use cell phones while they are driving despite the risks it entails. Why is it that only a few people make the decision to pull over to make a phone call? We see a level of individuality in our society. In some cases this diversity is good. It allows for our society to grow. However, some individuality creates conflict. When some people decide to provide distractions while they drive and others decide to safely pull over, there is no sense of uniformity. When two points of view conflict it is sometimes a matter that is best dealt with by the government.

In placing a law against cell phone use while driving, the government is not trying to completely cut off your way of doing things. They have every right to place this law because it is for the good of the population as a whole. They are not trying to discriminate against a certain group of people who do not see the harm in it. They realize that placing a law will keep everyone in the country safer. And after all, the government’s goal is to keep its people safe. The intention is not to interfere with this trend of constant communication of the twenty-first century, but to keep everyone alive! We need to drive safe and just drive.