You’re driving on the freeway minding your own business, being the cautious driver that you are. You almost have a panic attack when somebody suddenly swerves into your lane, almost hitting your car, thus causing you to swerve into the next lane. You shoot the driver a dirty look and identify the reason for his carelessness; he is talking on his cell phone.
     Almost everyone in America has a cellular phone, and talking on the cell phone has become a daily activity. To all the benefits the cell phone brings for example being a convenient necessity, there are also some downfalls to it, such as disturbing the public and being prone to car accidents.
     A California Highway Patrol study showed the leading cause of driving distraction accidents is cell phone usage. The second greatest cause of accidents is flipping through the CD player.
     In California, cell phone use while driving contributed to 11 percent of the collisions related to inattention factors during the first six months of 2002, according to a study ordered by the California Legislature.
     People talking on the phone while driving are usually concentrating on a conversation they are having and not paying attention to the road. A person who does not use a hands free device is usually holding onto the wheel while holding the phone in the other hand. Most of the hands free devices come with the phone, but a lot of people do not get into the habit of using them.
     “We give our customers free headsets for their cell phones when they first purchase it,” said Nicholas Lee, T-Mobile sales associate. “We try to enforce the safety rule of driving as much as possible.”
     Due to the number of car accidents caused by talking on the cell phone, the proposed bill, Assembly Bill 45, was passed in early March, forcing California motorists to use hands free devices, headsets or speakerphones while driving. Assembly Bill 45 was passed by the state legislature and if it is approved, will go into effect in 2005.
     The possible law will fine motorists $20 for the first offense and $50 for following offenses. The law is already in effect in the state of New York.
     Some cell phone associates agree with the proposal, since they are aware of the dangers of holding a phone and driving simultaneously.
     “When you’re talking, you’re not paying attention. It can cause many deaths, accidents, and injuries,” said Lee.
     Cingular Wireless Sales Associate Trung Tran says the proposal will probably not help decrease the amount of accidents because people are still distracted by their conversation while they drive, so the headset use does not stop the problem.
     Tran says another benefit of enforcing the headset for motorists is to improve their health, as having the headset may help reduce the cause of radiation given off by the cell phone, thus reducing the risk of cancer.
     “A headset is good because it helps reduce radiation, but I don’t know exactly how much,” said Tran.
     However, there is no medical research to support radiation from the cell phone, as being a cause of cancer.
     “There may have been a discussion about the cancer issue, but there is no definitive research yet,” said Barbara Wylie, Skyline health center nurse.
     According to a study completed in June 2002 in Quebec City, Quebec scientist Joseph L. Roti Roti, Ph.D. concluded that the cell phone use does not increase the risk of brain tumors.
     After exposing rats to two common types of cell phone radiation for two years, there is no significant increase in the risk of cancer compared to the rats in the control group, those who were not exposed to the radiation.
     In the article “Cell phones don’t cause cancer, rat study finds” written by Darrell Ward at the Washington University School of Medicine” Roti Roti said, “As far as I can tell from the work so far, the greatest hazard with cell phones is driving a car while talking on one.”