Assignment: Generating a Policy Proposal
Although some states and cities have passed laws to ban texting and using handheld phones while driving, there is no current law to ban all cell phone use while driving. However, according to the National Safety Council (2009), 28 percent of all crashes-1.6 million per year-are caused by cell phone use and texting by drivers. The mission of a new national nonprofit organization called Focus Driven, patterned after Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is to make phone use while driving as illegal and socially unacceptable as drunk driving. US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood supports Focus Driven and its efforts: According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, LaHood said this movement will become "an army of people traveling the countryside" to push for bans on cell phone use and tough enforcement (Schmit, 2010).
As a political advocate interested in this issue, you will be writing a policy proposal that utilizes the current research to propose a solution to the issue and submit it in this assignment.
The references below are to be used within the proposal as well as the ones attached to this assignment
Schmitz, J. (2010, January 13). Cell phone ban for drivers is focus of new group.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved from https://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10013/1027757-147.stm.
National Research Council. (2010). National Safety Council Estimates that At Least 1.6 Million Crashes Each Year Involve Drivers Using Cell Phones and Texting. Available at
https://www.nsc.org/pages
/nscestimates16millioncrashescausedbydriversusingcellphonesandtexting.aspx