In January 2004, a 20-year-old woman ran a red light while talking on a cell phone. Her carknocked into another car crossing with the green light directly in front of her. The police found thedriver never touched her brakes ( 刹车) and was traveling 48 mph when she hit the other car. The po-lice were told that the driver was not looking down, pressing buttons. She was looking straight out ofthe windshield(挡风玻璃) talking on her cell phone as she passed four cars and a school bus.
Vision is the most important sense for safe driving. Yet, drivers using cell phones are likely to"look at" but not "see" objects. It is said that drivers using cell phones look but fail to see up to 50percent of the infornmtion while driving. Drivers are looking out of the windshield, but they do notreally deal with the situation on the road.
Although the public appear to be turning against cell phone use while driving, many admit theyregularly talk or text while driving. The police say that nine percent of the drivers at any given timeare using cell phones, and about one in four car accidents are directly related to cell phone use.
Using cell phones while driving has become a serious public health threat (威胁). A few stateshave passed laws making it unlawful to use a handheld cell phone while driving, but these laws give the false message that using a hand-free phone is safe.