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1、第五十篇CellPhonesIncreaseTraffic,PedestrianFatalities（A级）Cellphonesareadangerontheroadinmorewaysthanone.Twonewstudiesshowthattalkingonthephonewhiletraveling,whetheryou'redrivingoronfoot,isincreasingbothpedestriandeathsandthoseofdriversandpassengers,andrecommendcrackdownsoncell1usebyb
2、othpedestriansanddrivers.Thenewstudies,lead-authoredbyRutgersUniversity,Newark,EconomicsProfessorPeterD.Loeb2,relatetheimpactofcellphonesonaccidentfatalitiestothenumberofcellphonesinuse,showingthatthecurrentincreaseindeathsresultingfromcellphoneusefollowsaperiodwhencellphonesactua
3、llyhelpedtoreducepedestrianandtrafficfatalities.However,thisreductioninfatalitiesdisappearedoncethenumbersofphonesinusereacheda“criticalmass”3of100million,thestudyfound.Thesestudieslookedatcellphoneuseandmotorvehicleaccidentsfrom1975through2002,andfactoredin4anumberofvariables,inc
4、ludingvehiclespeed,alcoholconsumption,seatbeltuse,andmilesdriven.Thestudiesfoundthecellphone-fatalitycorrelationtobetrueevenwhenincludingfactorssuchasspeed,alcoholconsumption,andseatbeltuse.Loebandhisco-authordeterminedthat,atthecurrenttime,cellphoneusehasa“significantadverseeffec
5、tonpedestriansafety”andthat“cellphonesandtheirusageaboveacriticalthreshold5addstomotorvehiclefatalities.”Inthelate1980sandpartofthe1990s,beforethenumbersofphonesexploded,cellphoneuseactuallyhada“life-savingeffect”inpedestrianandtrafficaccidents,Loebnotes.“Cell-phoneusers’wereablet
6、oquicklycallformedicalassistancewheninvolvedinanaccident.Thisquickmedicalresponseactuallyreducedthenumberoftrafficdeathsforatime,”Loebhypothesizes.However,thiswasnotthecasewhencellswerefirstusedinthemid-1980s,whentheycauseda“life-takingeffect”amongpedestrians,driversandpassengersi
7、nvehicles.Inthoseearlydays,whentherewerefewerthanamillionphones,fatalitiesincreased,saysLoeb,becausedriversandpedestriansprobablywerestilladjustingtothenoveltyofusingthem,andthereweren'tenoughcellphonesinusetomakeadifferenceinsummoninghelpfollowinganaccident,heexplains.The“life-sa
8、vingeffect”occurredasthevolumeofp
