Making Cell Phones Safer
Manufacturers and Targeted Consumer Education
If you could see an aspect of your cell phone that could be potentially very dangerous under certain circumstances would you not seek an alternative access point? For example: some studies charge that the practice of dialing a phone number on the keypad is the biggest safety problem with cell phones when operating a motor vehicle. Drivers must take their eyes off the road to see what numbers they’re dialing and possibly even correct mistakes and redial. A solution?
Voice Activated Dialing.
The form factor of a cell phone has changed as drastically as has high fashion. Inside those little techno-packages are increasingly varied ways to communicate. Why not give users options for safer, even hands-free applications and tools that make sense while driving?
Grassroots Consumer Education Makes Phones Safer in the Hands of Users
Manufacturers are just one component in the bigger cell phone safety picture. Consider this disturbing statistic: “Twenty four percent of high school students…say talking on a cell phone while driving is safe.” The increasing numbers of teenage drivers operating under the influence of such notions challenges opponents on all sides of the cell phone argument to rise to the occasion. cell phones are made safer on this score when beliefs are changed. When consumer education is able to build a solid message and offer candid examples that displace such misguided thinking then user behavior shifts. What’s ironic is that those teens have learned the behaviors from their parents.
Educating the Parents
Parents unfortunately bequeath their unsafe driving habits to their kids. This newest generation of drivers believes that cell phones are perfect accompaniments to a drive. Teen awareness and a shift in sensibility may best be accomplished through parental education. Safer cell phone use should start at home.
From insurance companies to cell phone manufacturers, and consumer advocates to corporate America, safe cell phone driver tips have become standard fare. Regardless of how hard-line the source on cell phone legislation, most will agree that cell phones can be made safer when consumers, both young and old, have the information they need to make informed decisions and when they are given the incentives to effect safety measures.
