Assignment 2: Preparation for 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 FocusDriven, 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 FocusDriven and its efforts.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, LaHood said that this movement would become "an army of people traveling the countryside" to push for bans on cell-phone use and tough enforcement (Schmitz, 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 submitting it in Module 5.

Annotated Bibliography: Effect of Cell Phone Use

Before you can write this proposal research, you will need to conduct initial research on the science behind this initiative. For this assignment, use the online library resources to locate research reports from peer-reviewed journals that discuss the effects of cell phone use on vision, attention, perception, or memory. In selecting at least five research reports from peer-reviewed journals relevant to the topic, make sure they address one or more of the following issues:

• How do texting, handheld phones, and hands-free phones compare with each other in their effects on driving?

• How do other, traditional distractions compare to cell phone use in their effects on driving (such as eating, attending to children, talking to passengers, listening to music/news, etc.)?

• Can cell phone use while driving be compared with drunk driving? Why or why not?

• What other variables (such as age) can affect driving while using a cell phone?

Based on your reading of the five articles, create an annotated bibliography for each of the five sources. Each annotation should consist of the APA reference entry followed by a paragraph-long summary of the articles. In your summary, provide answers for the questions below.

For the last question, think about how the research results could be generalized to fit other environments or not be generalized.

• Summarize the main ideas in the reference. What were they investigating?

• How were the studies conducted? What was the sample size? Is it appropriate?

• Were the studies conducted in the real world or was a simulated environment used?

• How might these methodological considerations affect the research findings and the conclusions drawn from them? How does this article fit in with your paper? How did it influence your own ideas about your paper?

Your annotated bibliography should be at 3-4 pages in length.