Other safety issues arise from the use of cellular phones while driving or using machinery - the "distraction factor" and the use around sensitive electronic equipment, including othere wireless technologies and medical devices like pacemakers.

Gas Stations
You may have seen signs on the highway while driving asking you to turn off cell phones because there is blasting of explosives nearby.  This is because the transmissions have the potential to set off the blasts.  Now think of a team of experts setting explosives underground, such as for oil exploration, who are afraid of cell phone users on the surface setting off the charges prematurely.

Next time you put gasoline in your car, look for a decal on the pumps telling you to shut off your phone.  This is because the energy from the phone has the capability to arc-to-ground, causing a spark-like event that can ignite gas fumes.  This is less a problem in North America and Europe where there are special pumps to deal with the fumes.  However, in the rest of the world it can be a serious problem.  In refineries and other places with gas as well.

Automobiles
As early as 1997, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study that showed that a driver using a cell phone or mobile phone was four times more likely to be in an accident than drivers who were not talking. The same study showed that the hands free phones did not improve the statistics.  The distraction appears to be in the attention to the conversation.  

Driving while talking on cell phones & mobile phones is already illegal in some countries including England and Israel.  Some states and cities in the U.S. have started ticketing motorists for using hand held phones.  Additionally, the U.S. federal government is challenging the auto industry to step up efforts to develop vehicles that use technology to help drivers avoid accidents. 

The US Secretary of Transportation has set a goal of 10 years for the auto industry to install smart technology in at least 10 percent of all passenger vehicles and 25% of commercial vehicles.  Qiet Cell Control Units could be one of these smart technologies.  New car production in North America was 17 million automobiles in the year 2000.

With the reduction in active coverage of the Cell-Block-R Control Unit from 6-feet to 12-inches, a Quiet Cell Control Unit derivative could be placed inside a headrest in an automobile to control just the driver’s use of phone while driving, while not disturbing the passengers.  US Auto production is approximately 13 million units per year.

Here are a few more areas you might not think of.

Banks
In many parts of the world, cellular phones are not allowed in banks because they are used by criminals to alert colleagues outside the bank of potential targets leaving the building with large sums of money.

Withdrawing large sums of cash can be very risky business by itself, even more so with cellular phones hidden on other persons in the bank.

Unscrupulous individuals have also been known to use celluar camera phones to take pictures of people inputing their secret code numbers when withdrawing money from banks' ATM machines.  This makes the theft of the card much more valuable - and dangerous for the bank customer.

ATMs
Picture a line at the bank machine.  A line of people waiting to get money from the bank.  The second person in line looks like he is talking on the phone - but in reality he is taking a video of the person in front of him - entering their PIN number into the ATM.  Later that person will be robbed - and the robbers have their special access code to wipe out the bank account.

To see some other SAFETY REFERENCES click here.