Cell Phone Wisdom Page covers recycling of cell phones (real causes of car accidents, suggested concrete steps listed at the end before Glossary), hands free use of cell phones, and cell phone fraud advisory, and wireless telecommunication terms glossary.
In the news:
British Government Launches Ad Campaign Promoting Drivers' Safe Use of Cell Phones
A new TV, radio and poster campaign sponsored by the British government uses the slogan, "Think! Switch it off before you drive." "Missing a call won't kill you -- an accident quite possibly could," said Road Safety Minister David Jamieson. Drivers talking on their cellulars have reached catastrophic proportions which statistics point as the cause of rising percentage of the number of accidents that is spiralling upwards uncontrollably at the highest rate in history. If the majority of the people do not understand this serious dilemma within the next year, laws will imminently have to be passed to protect innocent drivers from being killed by these people that want to use their time more efficiently while they are driving and "think" they can control their vehicle while talking on their cell phone. Accident statistics provide answers such as, "I was reaching out for my phone and...", "I was dialing a number and...", "I was angry with the person I was talking to on the cellular phone and lost control of the car and...", "I was explaining how to program the VCR and..." Blah, blah, blah. The bottom line is that there is no legitimate excuse to NOT pull over to make a call or not to pull over to return a call since it has already been proved that it can save lives - Including your own.
Study Says 130 Million Cell Phones to Be Discarded Annually in the U.S. by 2005
A study by the environmental research organization INFORM, said that cell phones are typically used for only 18 months before being replaced, and by 2005, about 130 million of the devices, weighing about 65,000 tons, will be retired annually in the U.S. When these small devices are sent to landfills or incinerators, they can release toxic materials that can threaten human health and the environment, the study said. The Wireless Foundation, which has collected over one million cell phones, sponsors three programs that encourage the reuse and recycling of the devices. For more information about the Wireless Foundation's programs, visit: www.donateaphone.com.
Here's our advice:
(1) Give driving your full attention. Don't let anything interfere with your concentration.
(2) Assess road conditions before making or taking a call.
(3) Let Voice Mail pick up when it's inconvenient or unsafe to answer the phone.
(4) Program your most frequently dialed numbers into your phone for speed dialing — or have a passenger dial for you.
(5) Position your phone where it is easy to see and reach.
(6) Keep your eyes on the road. Never take notes while driving.
(7) Consider using a hands-free speakerphone or hands-free accessory, which allows you to keep both hands on the wheel when speaking.
Remember, missing a call won't kill you -- an accident quite possibly could.
Study says Cell Phones Rank Sixth on List of Causes of Accidents
In one of the largest studies to date on crashes involving distracted drivers, researchers found looking at other accidents, traffic, or roadside incidents caused the largest number of accidents, while cell phone use ranked only sixth.
The study was based on data collected by Virginia state troopers on more than 2,700 crashes involving distracted drivers between June and November 2002.
Researchers found that of all the crashes reported, 98% involved a single distracted driver.
"We've known for years that drivers contribute more to causing crashes than the vehicle or the roadway," says Robert Breitenbach, director of the Transportation Safety Training Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, in a news release. "In many instances the driver error involves not paying attention to the driving task. We can now identify those distractions with some confidence."
Rubbernecking (To look about or survey with unsophisticated wonderment or curiosity) was responsible for the largest number of accidents reported (16%) followed by driver fatigue (12%), looking at scenery or landmarks (10%), passenger or child distractions (9%), adjusting the radio, tape, or CD player (7%), and cell phone use (5%).
Overall, various distractions inside the vehicle accounted for 62% of the distractions reported. Distractions that came from outside the vehicle accounted for 35% of all distractions, and 3% of the distractions were undetermined.
Nearly two-thirds of the crashes in the study occurred in rural areas and were often caused by driver fatigue, insects entering or striking the vehicle, or animals and unrestrained pet distractions.
Automobile accidents caused by distracted drivers in urban areas tended to be the result of drivers looking at other crashes, traffic, or vehicles or cell phone use.
Researcher James M. Ellis of Virginia Commonwealth University says the findings should apply to other regions of the U.S. because the areas studied contained a representative mix of rural and urban counties, a diverse ethnic population, and varying road conditions and types.
Cell Phone Fraud Advisory
Cellular fraud (cell fraud) is defined as the unauthorized use, tampering, or manipulation of a cellular phone or service. At one time, cloning of cellular phones accounted for a large portion of cell fraud. As a result, the Wireless Telephone Protection Act of 1998 expanded prior law to criminalize the use, possession, manufacture or sale of cloning hardware or software. Currently, the primary type of cell fraud is subscriber fraud. The cellular industry estimates that carriers lose more than $150 million per year due to subscriber fraud.
What Is Subscriber Fraud?
Subscriber fraud occurs when someone signs up for service with fraudulently-obtained customer information or false identification. Lawbreakers obtain your personal information and use it to set up a cell phone account in your name.
Resolving subscriber fraud could develop into a long and difficult process for victims. It may take time to discover that subscriber fraud has occurred and an even longer time to prove that you did not incur the debts. Call your carrier if you think you have been a victim of subscriber fraud.
What Is Cell Phone Cloning Fraud?
Every cell phone is supposed to have a unique factory-set electronic serial number (ESN) and telephone number (MIN). A cloned cell phone is one that has been reprogrammed to transmit the ESN and MIN belonging to another (legitimate) cell phone. Unscrupulous people can obtain valid ESN/MIN combinations by illegally monitoring the radio wave transmissions from the cell phones of legitimate subscribers. After cloning, both the legitimate and the fraudulent cell phones have the same ESN/MIN combination and cellular systems cannot distinguish the cloned cell phone from the legitimate one. The legitimate phone user then gets billed for the cloned phone's calls. Call your carrier if you think you have been a victim of cloning fraud.
Summary
Remember, to prevent subscriber fraud, make sure that your personal information is kept private when purchasing anything in a store or on the Internet. Protecting your personal information is your responsibility. For cell phone cloning fraud, the cellular equipment manufacturing industry has deployed authentication systems that have proven to be a very effective countermeasure to cloning. Call your cellular phone carrier for more information.
More Cell Phone Safety Tips:
1. Get to know your wireless phone and its features such as speed dial and redial. If available, these features help you place your call without taking your attention off the road.
2. When available, use hands free device. If possible, add an additional layer of convenience and safety to your wireless phone with one of the many hands free accessories available today.
3. Position your wireless phone within easy reach. Be able to access your wireless phone without removing your eyes from the road. If you get an incoming call at an inconvenient time, if possible, let your voice mail answer it for you.
4. Let the person you are speaking with know you are driving; if necessary, suspend the call in heavy traffic or hazardous weather conditions. Rain, sleet, ice, and even heavy traffic can be hazardous.
5. Do not take notes or look up phone numbers while driving. Jotting down a "to do" list or flipping through your address book takes attention away from your primary responsibility: driving safely.
6. Dial sensibly and assess the traffic; if possible, place calls when you are not moving or before pulling into traffic. Try to plan calls when your car will be stationary. If you need to make a call while moving, dial only a few numbers, check the road and your mirrors, then continue.
7. Do not engage in stressful or emotional conversations that may be distracting. Make people you are talking with aware you are driving and suspend conversations which have the potential to divert your attention from the road.
8. Use your wireless phone to call for help. Dial 9-1-1 or other local emergency number in the case of fire, traffic accident or medical emergencies.
9. Use you wireless phone to help others in emergencies. If you see an auto accident, crime in progress or other serious emergency where lives are in danger, call 9-1-1 or other local emergency number, as you would want others to do for you.
10. Call roadside assistance or a special non-emergency wireless assistance number when necessary. If you see a broken-down vehicle posing no serious hazard, a broken traffic signal, a minor traffic accident where no appears to be injured, or a vehicle you know to be stolen, call roadside assistance or other special non-emergency wireless number.
Please be good and recycle!
Don't throw away your old cell phone, even if it's broken.
Cell phones, which most people typically replace every 18 months, have more recycling potential than one might expect.
While computers tend to be tougher to unload, cell phones. also harmful to the environment if thrown away, are different.
During recent years, manufacturers and many independent organizations have created cell-phone recycling programs to benefit many causes, including victims of domestic violence, people with disabilities and parcels of endangered rainforest.
Before donating your cell phone, be sure to discontinue service and wait about a week before donating it.
Here are a few donation options:
- Safeplace -- 314 Legion Way S.E., Olympia; 360-786-8754; www.safeplaceolympia.org -- accepts cell phones, which can be distributed as emergency phones to domestic violence victims and vulnerable adults served by Adult Protective Services, a part of the state Department of Social and Health Services.
Under Federal Communications Commission regulations, all cell phones have the ability to dial 9-1-1, even after service has been canceled.
Phones that aren't working are sent to Shelter Alliance in Florida, which pays shelters 50 cents to $25 per phone and then recycles or sells them.
When donating cell phones to Safeplace, please put the phone, its batteries, its charger and the manual in a Ziploc-style bag. Chargers are accepted but are not required. Do not include phone boxes or packaging materials.
Hours at Safeplace are 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Phones for Safeplace also can be dropped off at police stations in Lacey, Olympia and Rainier.
- CollectiveGood -- 4508 Bibb Blvd., Suite B-10, Tucker, Ga., 30084; 770-856-9021; www.collective good.com -- accepts cell phones and cell phone accessories as well as pagers and PDAs (personal digital assistants such as Palm Pilots) through the mail.
CollectiveGood refurbishes phones so they can be reused in the developing world, usually Latin America or the Caribbean, where they offer affordable communications to families. Phones that are beyond repair are safely recycled for metals and other materials.
Donors can give phones on behalf of the many charities partnered with CollectiveGood, ranging from the Adopt An Acre rainforest program to Make-A-Wish of Eastern Tennessee.
- Staples -- 1200 Cooper Point Road, Suite 518, Olympia; 360-570-0800 -- in partnership with CollectiveGood accepts cell phones, PDAs, pagers and rechargeable batteries. Customers can recycle these devices by dropping them off while they shop at their local Staples store. Part of the cell phone proceeds will benefit the Sierra Club, a grass-roots environmental organization.
- EcoPhones -- www.Eco Phones.com -- helps educational, civic and religious organizations make money through a cell-phone donation program.
Organizations can sign up for the program to receive up to $3 per donated cell phone.
- Goodwill Industries -- 400 Cooper Point Road S.W., Olympia; 360-956-0669; www.tacomagood will.org -- accepts regular phones and wireless phones. They are sold, donated to charity organizations or recycled.
- Company programs: Visit www.recyclewirelessphones.org for a list of cell-phone manufacturers and wireless companies -- such as Nokia, Sprint and Verizon -- that offer their own recycling programs to benefit various charities.
Glossary
Antenna: A wire or set of wires used to send and receive
radio waves.
Base Station: The combination of antennas and electronic
equipment used to receive and transmit wireless telephone signals.
Cell Phone: A wireless telephone that sends and receives
messages using radiofrequency energy in the 800-900 megahertz portion
of the radiofrequency (RF) spectrum.
Cell Site: Another name for a cellular base station.
Cellular Base Station: Antennas and electronic equipment
used to receive and transmit cellular telephone signals.
Cellular Phone: A wireless telephone that sends and receives
messages using radiofrequency energy in the 800-900 megahertz portion
of the radiofrequency (RF) spectrum.
Cordless Telephone: A portable telephone that transmits
signals over a small distance to a receiver that is wired into the
telephone network. Cordless telephones are generally used only in
or around one's home.
Electromagnetic Energy: Waves of electrical and magnetic
energy moving together through space. Also called electromagnetic
radiation.
Electromagnetic Field: An area containing electromagnetic
energy (electromagnetic radiation).
Electromagnetic Radiation: Waves of electrical and magnetic
energy moving together through space. Also called electromagnetic
energy.
Electromagnetic Spectrum: The collection of all electromagnetic
energy arranged according to frequency and wavelength.
Frequency: The number of waves passing a given point in
one second. Measured in Hertz (Hz), or cycles per second.
Hertz: The unit of measurement used to describe the frequency
of a wave. One Hertz (Hz) is equal to one cycle of the wave per
second.
Ionizing Radiation: Very high energy electromagnetic radiation
that strips electrons away from their normal locations in atoms
and molecules.
Microwaves: A subset of radio waves that have frequencies
ranging from around 300 million waves per second (300 MHz) to three
billion waves per second (3 GHz).
Non-Ionizing Radiation: Levels of electromagnetic radiation
that are too low to strip electrons away from their normal locations
in atoms and molecules
PCS Phone: A wireless telephone that uses radiofrequency
signals in the 1850-1990 megahertz (MHz) portion of the radiofrequency
(RF) spectrum. PCS stands for portable communication system.
Radiation: (1) The emission and transmission of energy through
space or through a material medium. (2) The radiated energy itself.
Radio Waves: Electromagnetic energy with frequencies in
the 3000 hertz (3 kHz) to 300 billion Hertz (300 GHz) portion of
the electromagnetic spectrum.
Radiofrequency Energy: Another name for radio waves.
RF Energy: An abbreviation for Radiofrequency Energy.
SAR: Specific Absorption Rate.
Specific Absorption Rate: A measure of the rate at which
RF energy is absorbed by the body.
Telecommunications: The transmission of words, sounds, or
images, usually over great distances, in the form of electromagnetic
energy, for example by telegraph, telephone, radio, or television.
Telephone Network: The system of wires, fiber-optic cables,
satellites, and transmission towers that transmit telephone messages
from caller to receiver.
Telephone Transmission Tower: A telephone base station located
on top of a tall, free-standing structure.
Wavelength: The distance covered by one cycle of a wave.
Wireless Telephone Base Station: The combination of antennas
and electronic equipment used to receive and transmit wireless telephone
signals. Sometimes called a base station.
Wireless Telephone: A hand-held phone with a built-in antenna
that transmits signals through the air without a physical connection.
Cell (cellular), PCS, mobile, car, and bag (transportable) phones
are all considered wireless telephones. Cordless telephones used
only in or around one's home are not considered wireless telephones
Access Area: The area around each cell-site where phone calls are directed.
Analog: A system of cellular phone signal transmission based on the sending of the modulating amplitude of the communication signal.
Cell-Site: A cellular phone transmission tower. (Also known as a cell-tower)
Cell-Splitting: The practice by which a cellular phone company replaces a single omnidirectional cellular transmitter with an array of directional cellular transmitters each pointed in different, opposing, directions. Cell-splitting results in an increased capacity of a cell-site because one transmitter has been replaced by a whole array of transmitters.
Convergence Center: Areas (normally buildings) designated as community gathering places in the event of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake. Convergence centers commonly include schools, recreation centers, hospitals, etc.
Directional Antenna: An antenna, transmitter, or beacon which transmits its signal in a straight line.
Flower Tower: A Lattice tower that narrows near the top.
Lattice Tower: A cellular tower constructed with metal crossbeams supporting its three or four legs. Its fairly wide base and careful engineering result in a very stable structure that is able to withstand strong earthquakes.
Monopole: A single, normally free-standing, vertical pole carrying cellular transmitters.
Omnidirectional Antenna: An antenna, transmitter, or beacon which transmits its signal in a radial fashion in all directions around it.
PCS: A system of cellular phone signal transmission based on the sending of a binary-coded communication signal. Also known as "Digital PCS".
Saturated Cell-site: A cell-site that has reached the limit of users which are allowed to use it. A saturated cell-site will not allow any more cell-phone users to access it.
