Thursday, July 5, 2001
O
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Page 5
THE BATTALION
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Drive now, talk later
pfew York's new cellphone ban should be followed by other states
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. ESTATE
recent bill
passed in New
York, that bans
:ell phone use while
hiving, is a step in
he right direction
io curb accidents.
The New York ban
equires drivers
vho want to make
>r receive calls on their cell phones to
dther use a headset or pull over to the
;ide of the road.
If a New Yorker uses a handheld cell
2 brand NE irfhone while driving, they can be fined
EFt at the pra-f ip to $100. Exceptions are made for
its in Colleges hose dialing 91 1 or using hands-free
ACE CONDOO'I b &
is left for Sale ' systems,
make Umversi The ban in New York was the first
student ho^ 3 f j ts hind at the state level. At least 36
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pool, spa k Jother states have had similar legisla
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ion presented to them, but none have
However, o 7 997 study
in the New England
Journal of Medicine
reported that talking
on a cell phone
quadruples a driver's
chances of being
in an accident.
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I acted upon it. The Texas legislature
I should consider taking a more active
I approach to implementing similar
I legislation here.
New York Governor Pataki said,
I “They’re (cell phones) a great tool,
1 but they also ... pose an enormous
| threat to public safety.”
Many municipalities have acted in
dependent and implemented bans.
One of the first of these was Hilltown,
Pa., in 1999.
The ban came as a result of the
death of a 2-year-old-girl who was
killed in a automobile wreck, caused
by another driver using a cell phone.
Opponents-of the bill say that a ban
on cell phones in cars would be an
other infringement on their rights and
that there is not enough evidence to
warrant such a ban.
However, a 1997 study in the New
England Journal of Medicine report
ed that talking on a cell phone
quadruples a driver’s chances of being
in an accident.
Some critics state that a ban should
not be in place until there has been
sufficient statistical data that links ac
cidents and cell phone use. However,
these studies would take years to con
duct and there is already sufficient ev
idence of a linkage in place.
A University of North Carolina
Highway Safety Research Study states
that only 1.5 percent of accidents that
occur are because of distracted driv
ers using cell phones.
This is not as small of a number as
it seems — according to Ford in the
Ford/Firestone tire recall, only
.000241 percent of the tires are de
fective and might lead to an accident.
Clearly the potential for cell phones
to cause accidents is very high and
must be dealt with quickly.
The New York ban is further
strengthened by the fact that Verizon
Wireless, a leading wireless commu
nication company in the United
States, supports the ban.
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Mark Tidier, general counsel to
Verizon Wireless, said, “Everyone
knows it’s sensible to keep both hands
on the wheel, and we educate our cus
tomers to drive sensibly.”
The majority of the state of Texas
feels the same way’about banning cell
phone use while driving. According to
a September 2000 Scripps Howard
Poll, 59 percent of Texans would sup
port a statewide ban on cell phone use
while driving/
All drivers’ education classes teach
that driving requires the total atten
tion of the driver.
Texas needs to apply this same
CHAD MALLAM/The Battalion
mentality to the legislative process
and pay attention to the facts and feel
ings of the people. To do this, legisla
tion similar to New York’s must be
passed as soon as possible.
Reid Bader is a jun ior
political science major.
lor August
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Unfair generalizations
Media depictions of Muslims as terrorists harmful to U.S. Arab population
JASON
BENNYHOFF
ast Thursday, a nation
al social ill was perpe
trated inside the White
House by its own Secret Ser
vice agents.
A group of Islamic leaders
left the White House in
protest Thursday after one
of them, a congressional in
tern, was asked to leave the
building. Apparently, the removal was merely a
case of mistaken identity. The Secret Service
agents asserted that they were not aware of
who the intern was. However, it is difficult to
believe that he wotild have been treated so
rudely and dismissed so quickly had he not
been of Arab descent.
America is fast becoming a divided nation.
Every day, Americans are bombarded widi im
ages of the Arab population, and Muslims as a
whole, as vicious, zealous murderers who are ca
pable of anything. Scores of books, movies and
television programs have villified diis group of
people because of the actions of a callous few.
Terrorism is a problem in Arab countries,
and some Islamic leaders have even issued holy
edicts condemning America and promoting the
killing of American citizens.
However, it is unfair for Americans to con
demn an entire religion and ethnic group be
cause of those actions.
Every day, a religious lunatic or a political
malcontent condemns the American govern
ment and swears that he will shoot government
agents right in America’s heartland. Yet no one
throws Wisconsin cheese makers out of the
White House or makes a movie suggesting that
they are going to blow up children with a pipe
bomb concealed in a cheese log.
The fact that these injustices occur is bad
enough, the background of the intern removed
from the White House makes it all the worse.
Abdullah Alarian has never been convicted of
any crime and his acceptance as an intern for
the United States Congress should speak well
of his character.
Beyond that, Alarian’s uncle, Mazen Al-Naj-
jar, was arrested and served three years in a
Florida prison for allegedly using an Islamic
think tank as a front for terrorism. But Al-Najjar
was later released after a panel of judges and the
attorney general of the United States found no
reason to hold him. Alarian’s family already has
been the victim of a country contemptuously
sneering at all things Muslim, and that makes
this most recent offense all the worse.
Alarian probably would not have been re
moved from the White House had he not been
of Arab descent, just as his uncle probably
would not have gone to prison for terrorism
had he not been of Arab descent.
However, given that the Secret Service did
realize its mistake and offer to readmit Alarian
to the White House, it is believable that the
agents involved did not mean any offense and
probably did not consciously make a decision to
treat Alarian as a terrorist. However, they did
make a subconscious connection between his
appearance and the American stereotype of
Arab people.
In this case the mistake was merely an incon
venience. One should hope that is all this racist
attitude will ever lead to.
Jason Bennyhoff is a senior
journalism, major.
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CARTOON OF THE DAY
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Holier than thou
attitude not needed
In response to July 2 mail call
After reading Kempfs column
and the typical AStM holier than
thou responses in the mail call
section, I have found something
worth mentioning. Sexual explo
ration is as important as social ex
ploration in learning about differ
ent people and oneself. Sex does
not have to be associated with
love. If you choose to follow the
commands of a fictitious character
named Cod in a make-believe
world called heaven, keep it to .
yourself, and allow people to be
have within the laws of the society
they are a part of.
Religion is personal to each in
dividual and is not to be thrust
upon others, nor is it the standard.
For those who think saving them
selves for a spouse is an act of re
spect, think about this: You do not
learn from one teacher, one class,
one friend, one experience — you
learn from many. Some misguided
sheep at A&M like to believe that
the majority of students are not
engaging in sexual behavior, but
the truth is that sexually active
people do not waste the time to
write about it in the paper. They
leave that to the ignorant Bible
quoters whose lives are so empty
they have to worry about what
everyone else is doing.
Mike Walkowitz
Graduate Student
Rules protect students
from their coaches
In response to Jessica
Crutcher's July 2 column.
Crutcher's opinion on student
athletes is flawed and not based
entirely on fact. As an undergrad
uate, I was a varsity athlete at a
Canadian university where athletic
scholarships are not given out. I
do, however, have a number of
friends who ventured to American
colleges to compete and have
their educations paid for. I look at
the freedom I was allowed in the
Canadian system as a privilege. I
was able to set my own schedule
and dedicate as much time to my
sport or my school as I desired.
My friends did not have that
flexibility. The article seems to im
ply that athletes have control to
make their own decisions. As a
student athlete on a scholarship in
the United States, your time is not
your own. Your scholarship is tied
to your coach's whims. You have
to attend practices and do as your
coaches dictate, or there is the
threat that you may lose your
scholarship. Not every coach be
lieves that their athletes' primary
concern is their education. Many
of these rules would not be pro
tecting the athletes from them
selves but from coaches who do
not respect the other reasons an
athlete is at school. They should
be student athletes, not athlete
students.
Implementing these rules
would give athletes the ability to
prioritize their athletics as they see
fit. If they want to use that extra
time to study or go do an extra
workout, they have that choice.
While it may seem an individual's
choice to accept an athletic schol
arship, for many people, it may be
the only way they can finance
their education.
I feel that my experiences as an
athlete enriched my university ex
perience without consuming it. I
hope that other athletes feel the
same way.
Deidre Waite
Graduate student