Cell phone driving

April 3, 1973: Martin Cooper invents the portable cellular telephone. Cooper has said, “ As I walked down the street while talking on the phone, sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call. ” Today, it would be normal to see someone doing that. A lot of times, you can even see people talking on their cell phone while driving.

A study in 2005 showed that a 20-year old who is driving and talking on their phone has the same reaction time as a 70-year old who isn't even talking. Just the other day I was looking out the window of our car and I was surprised to see how many people were on phones. About half the people were chatting away, and one person was even checking her email on a blackberry.

Cell phone drivers around the United States can harm more than 330,000 people a year, according to LiveScience.com. That's because cell phone talking or texting and driving is just as bad as drinking and driving. Luckily, less than 1 percent die; the rest are injured.

If you're one of the millions who chat and drive, it might be a good idea to keep your mind on the road and not your conversation.