iDriveFocused.com. Driving while distracted is bad for your health. Here's why.

Earlier this week, The New York Times published a new article in its on-going series "Driven to Distraction", this time focusing on the emergence of the mobile phone industry.  In "Promoting the Cell Phone, Despite Risks", reporter Matt Richtel examines the ways in which wireless service providers and phone manufacturers may have contributed to the current epidemic of distracted driving due to mobile phone use.  One of the most pertinent facts he points out is one which I must admit I had forgotten - that cell phones were originally designed to be and marketed as 'car phones'. 

It's just common sense that when you're driving, your focus should be firmly on the road.  And yet, Richtel claims the mobile phone industry worked to suppress sutdies showing the risks of using cell phones while driving. Former industry executive, Bob Lucky, nicely sums up the industry's logic in not focusing on the potential risks of mobile phone use while driving:

"If you're an engineer, you don't want to outlaw the great technology you've been working on. If you're a marketing person, you don't want to outlaw the thing you've been trying to sell. If you're a C.E.O., you don't want to outlaw the thing that's been making a lot of money."

Rictel reports that Martin Cooper, developer of the first portable cell phone, advocated agaisnt the use of cell phones while driving as the industry was taking off in the1960s. Mr. Cooper says he told a Congressional panel that "there should be a lock on the dial [of cell phones]...so that you couldn't use them while driving."  Wise words.  More people should heed them and make strong efforts to prevent distracted driving, such as downloading ZoomSafer to 'lock' their phones for safety as Mr. Cooper envisioned all those years ago.

You can read "Promoting the Cell Phone, Despite Risks" in its entirety here.