A lot of people don’t seem to believe me when I that talking on a cellular phone while driving is dangerous, and I don’t mean just the act of holding the phone. Using Bluetooth or a headset isn’t really an alternative because the problem is what you really are paying attention to. On a somewhat related note, a new study has been released showing that the death toll among pedestrians wearing headphones has tripled in the last six years. With the reason for many of these being cited as “inattentional blindness”, which basically means the people in these accidents were not paying attention to their surroundings.

The most disturbing part about this to me is in the last few weeks I have seen several people driving their cars with headphones on. Sure, you can technically have one in one ear, but the part that makes it dangerous is that you aren’t as focused on driving. I might be making a big leap here, but I am pretty sure that cell phones whether you are holding a phone up to your head, using a hands free device, or many of the other options cause trouble due to the fact of actually talking with someone on the phone and having your mind not giving the road the attention it needs.

Do you think that listening to headphones while walking relates at all to driving a car while doing the same? Or talking on a Cellular Phone? How can we keep people safe from making dangerous choices without regulating every aspect of a persons life? Or should survival of the fittest apply?