Advocates for Cell Phone Safety merged with the Partnership
for Safe Driving, a national organization headquartered in Washington, DC and
dedicated to eliminating all forms of dangerous driving.
On November 3, 1999, our sweet little
daughter, Morgan Lee, died as a result of injuries sustained in a
car crash the previous day. Our car was broadsided by a driver who
failed to stop for a stop sign while using his cellular phone. This
website is our attempt to express our absolute devastation from the
loss of our only child who was the center of our lives. If you want
to read the complete story of what happened to our baby, please read
my open letter written to Car Talk
and their
response. Then, return to this site to learn more.
In Loving Memory of
Morgan Lee Pena May 18,
1997
November 3, 1999
Contacts: We are committed to raising public awareness
of this issue! Prior to this crash, we and the rest of the public, lacked a
meaningful awareness of the danger of drivers using cellular phones while operating a
vehicle. Since the horrific death of our daughter, we have discovered that the use of
cellular phones by drivers has become a very substantial safety problem. Studies have
indicated that the risk of crash quadruples when a cell phone is being used by a motorist
-- the risk equals that of an intoxicated driver. Please,
print this flyer and this flyer
and
distribute it to people you know or post it in a public location in your area. They detail
where you can write to demand that this issue be addressed. Click here to find out how you can
do more. Opposed to this legislation? Click here now.
The Wall
Street Journal column is complete and available to read here:
cellphonedriving02.htm
PLEASE NOTE:
HELP A REPORTER WRITING ON THIS ISSUE:
A reporter is researching the
issue of driving while talking on cell phones. He is looking to talk
to people involved in accidents while talking on phones, using
headsets or other hands-free devices. (He has already talked to people
who have had accidents while holding their phones and is only looking
for people where the accident involved a hands-free phone, such a
speakerphone or headset.) If you have ever been in an accident
and were either talking on the phone using a headset or the other
driver was on a headset or speakerphone and they hit you, and want to
talk to him, please send him an email at
joseph_rosner@hotmail.com
Thanks a lot.
Did you know ???
The risk
of having a traffic accident while using a cellular phone is the same as
that while driving drunk (NEJM, 2/13/97)
Cell
phone users are four to five HUNDRED percent more likely to get into traffic
accidents than those who do not use them (NEJM, 2/13/97)
There is
a nine-fold increase in the risk of fatality given the use of a cellular
telephone (Violanti, 1998, case-control study of data from 223,137 traffic
crashes in Oklahoma from 1992 - 1995)
Violanti
and Marshall studied the association between cellular telephone use and
EIGHTEEN other driver
inattention factors and traffic crash risk. Results indicated that talking
for more than 50 minutes per month on a cellular phone in a vehicle was
associated with a 5.59 fold increased risk of a traffic crash over other
factors.
The Insurance Research Council's Public Attitude Monitor showed
that four out of five survey respondents (82%) agree that using cell phones in cars
distracts drivers and increases the likelihood of accidents; 84% of cell phone owners
agree
The use of cell phones while vehicle is in motion has already been
banned in Australia, Spain, Israel, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Chile, Switzerland, Great
Britain, Singapore, Taiwan, Sweden, Japan, and Austria. Driving with a cell phone was
banned in Japan after a study found the number of traffic accidents related to the phones
increased by 11 percent from 1997 to 1998. In the month after the law went into effect,
the number of accidents caused by drivers using cell phones fell by about 75 percent.
