NEWS OF THE DAY News 10. More States Ban Cell Phones on Road

[NUKE209]

[NEW WORDS]

  ♧ ban (A from B) : v. 금지하다, 막다   -n. 금지

  ♧ distract : v. 마음/정신 등을 산란하게 하다   - n. distraction

  ♧ prohibit A from B : v. A가 B하는 것을 막다

  ♧ handheld : a. 손에 들고 쓰는

  ♧ contribute to A : v. 기여/이바지하다, 공헌하다

  ♧ constituent : n. 선거구민, 선거권자, 선거인  -a. 구성하는, 헌법 제정의 권한이 있는

  ♧ encounter : v. 만나다, 마주치다, 교전하다

  ♧ councilman : n. 시 의회 의원

  ♧ advantage over A : A를 능가하는 이점

  ♧ adjust : v. 조절하다, 맞추다

  ♧ enact : v. (법률을) 제정하다, 규정하다

  We're going to take a closer look tonight at driving while distracted. Today, New Jersey and the District of Columbia became the latest places to prohibit drivers from using handheld cell phones on the road. New York state and eight local districts have already done this. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that driver distraction contributes to as much as 30 percent of all traffic accidents. But not everyone believes cell phones are a major factor.

  Drivers using cell phones, studies suggest, are four times more likely to get into an accident. Fear of those drivers has led hundreds of constituents to lawmakers such as Douglas Fisher, author of New Jersey's new law.

  "Every week, I was encountered with people coming to me, talking about how they almost were involved in an accident, and that something needed to be done."
  But traffic safety experts say handheld cell phone bans may make the roads more dangerous because hands-free cell phones are still permitted. The distraction, they say, is the conversation, not holding the phone.

  "Handheld cell phone bans actually may make the situation worse because people are going to think that they're safer than they are. They're going to engage in more conversations, and perhaps get in more crashes."

  DC city councilman Harold Brazil insists his law will make the streets safer. The New England Journal of Medicine found that driving and using a cell phone is roughly similar to the increased risk of driving while drunk."

  But that same study noted that hands-free cell phones offered no safety advantage over handheld units, a concern shared by the American Automobile Association. In a study of 5,000 accidents, more frequent distractions included: someone or something outside the car, adjusting the car radio, adjusting climate controls, and snacking.
  Since enacting its ban in 2001, New York state has given out almost 300,000 tickets. So far, there is no evidence the ban has helped reduce accidents.