Pros And Cons Of Texting And Driving

TITLE Cell phones have taken the world into a new era of global communication. If you own a cell phone, at any given time that you have it in your possession anyone with your contact information has various outlets readily available to them to get in touch with you. While the world has never been more connected, it doesn’t come without cost. Though benefits are evident as well, it is the costs of cell phones that are concerning. One of the largest social costs of cell phone consumption in the United States is the distraction provided by cell phone use while driving. This negative externality of the cell phone market has cost many people pain, injury, and even death. Externalities occur when, “there is a spillover from one person’s actions to a bystander.” (Acemoglu 199) These spillovers often times create market failures as the externality caused by consumption prevents the market to reach a socially efficient outcome on its’ own accord. When such events occur often times the government intervenes, and the cell phone market is no different. The negative externality being called into question in the cell phone market is the decrease in the ability to safely operate a motor vehicle on public roads without being involved in a traffic accident caused by

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported, “that in 2012 driver distraction was the cause of 18 percent of all fatal crashes.” And also that, “forty percent of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger.” (NHTSA) This is a clear representation of a market failure, as the cell phone market is causing unsafe roads, and ultimately costing people their lives. With all of the social benefits associated with cell phone use, this one social cost, death, is far greater than any and all of the benefits, and likely not recognized by most