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Bahn, ONLY 2000 words? You have insulted my honor, I challenge you to a duel! Oh wait, I'm blind as a bat, never mind. Anyways, Shinibi, the best advice I can give, and that's as someone who is vehemently against cell phone use while driving without the use of a headset or hands-free device, is to read up on some editorial pieces done by major periodicals/websites/newspapers. Get some ideas from there.
Shinobes is screwed.
poor Shinobi :)
Here's the best part, towards the end of the year my final speech is on this very topic!
/me is screwed
I can give you only 100 words at best about why people shouldn't drive and be on a cell phone... but then you'd have to censor out about 90% of those anyway :p :)
I can't think of any for it, sorry I can't be of any help :(
say you're for it.....
....as long as people use a hands-free headset or some other twist.
I have some good info:
In NY state they made it illegal to drive a car with a cell phone in your hand. So everybody went out and bought hands free sets.
Now, a study just came out that proves it isn't the fact that people are holding the phone, its the fact that they are paying more attention to the conversation at hand than the road. And the law will not be changed back anytime soon. Stupid law.
So yeah, the hands free thing is bullshit.
Even I went out and bought one. Those bastards.
If this is for a high school speech, then you can pretty well B.S. your way through it.
Examples: - "Talking on cell phones is an individuals right, and noone should imede it."
- "People drove cars for decades without even wearing seatbelts, and it was an acceptable practice."
- "Cell phone use while driving only causes a fraction of automobile injuries/fatalities that drunk driving do, etc."
If this is for college, you are pretty well screwed. Sorry. :sweat:
You could just say snotty stuff like "Apparently, according to my research, car crashes happened even before people owned cell phones!"
I agree that if this is for college you are fuckered.
Your topic doesn't even specify if you're allowed to use a handsfree device while driving and talking.In any case, I you're going to have to get creative with this one in bullshitting your way through it.
The best thing I can think of is to appeal to the potential losses infliucted by banning cell calls from drivers. Like :
-- Lost productivity ... When there are occupations who necessitate long car journeys away from the office, it's is unrealistic to expect these people to stop the car every so often to check up on the office, relay information etc. Bosses stuck in traffic could direct things remotely via phone. Important heads of departments could approve unexpected decisions as they occur.
Without cellphones, these people would lose productivity as they would need to be tracked down and could only be found during when they are out of the car. Given the commute culture of America, sometimes car drives can last up to 2 hours or more. 4 hours a day lost to a high level worker could mean life and death to a business that relied on split second decisions.
This is probably the biggest point I can think of. I'm sure you could split it into mutliple points too ... like monetary loss and the intagible loss of being out of contact with an important person.
-- Communication problems ... Like when you're driving to meet someone who wants to change the location of meeting ? Then without driving and talking strictly, we couldn't even accept a message that said "take a different off ramp" or something... saving us time, effort and again, money (lost time = opportunity costs + gas money + etc etc)... There's also the human factors such as when there's been an accident and you're delayed... calling home to check in is assuring and keeps worrying or making of alternative arrangements.
-- Security. If drive by something important like a terrorist on the road or something... being able to immediately summon help is a big plus... (er... maybe I'm stretching a little now)
Other things :
-- Other factors have proven to cause more accidents than phones such as eating or adjusting the radio. Could argue for inherent risks of driving ... bad driver = bad driver with or without a phone. Could argue that if more dangerous things are not banned, phones shouldn't either.
-- Could argue a susbstantial loss in cell phone revenues causing less advnacement of network infrastruture and technology... that it stunts the growth of a connected national. Combined with eventual banning of phones in public places could be detrimental to our nation.
-- Could argue that certain other countries permit it with no precievable ill effects.
-- Safety of late night using the phone rather than leaving or stopping the car, which could be dangerous for single people.
-- That it's proven not the phone but the conversation that leads to accidents. That a second passenger in the car could have the same effect as the phone. Plus activities such as checking voicemail, which are non-instrusive, are similarly grouped.
-- The fact that if a law is passed, the law is nearly impossible to enforce with reliability. Seat belts, far more important, yet seat belt enforcement is spotty at best. To catch someone using increasingly miniturized cell phones by visual confirmation at highway speeds, with any accuracy, is next to impossible. This leads to just another wasted law, increased burden and costs on law enforcement, and unnecessary fines.
In addition, it's pretty hard to prove. I mean hang up, put the phone down as you're pulled over. The cop can't prove a thing with certainty.
That's the ideas I can think of off the top of my head. Hope that helps somewhat.