Distracted drivers add to road dangers

I read with interest the Daily Herald article in the Monday edition about the increasing number of traffic fatalities in Illinois.

Traffic experts offered any number of reasons for the increase in traffic fatalities, but never mentioned what I think is becoming a serious issue, and that is distracted driving. People driving while talking or texting on their cellphones.

I see it every day. People so distracted by their phones that they run into the car ahead of them, blow through a stop sign or drift across the centerline and into the path of an oncoming vehicle. I believe these distracted drivers are as dangerous as a drunken driver.

If drivers cannot voluntarily give up their precious cellphones to concentrate on driving, then I think it's time for some bright electrical engineer to come up with something that disables the cellphone when a car is in operation.

If you have to use the phone for a good reason, pull off to the side of the road and make your call. It could save your life or the driver in that oncoming car you didn't see.

Tom Petersen

Elgin