“Each year in the United States, 4.9 million driver distraction related crashes kill approximately 34,400 people, cause 2.1 million injuries and trigger as much as $184 billion in property damage.” (Sundeen, 2008). The United States has millions of distracted driver crashes. The crashes cost millions of dollars for people being in hospital, damages of their property and also the lives of people. Distracted driving should be not allowed. Distracted driving is split into two terms; distracted and driving. Distracted is defined as being diverted of your attention to something else (Distracted, n.d.). Distracted is an action where attention is diverted to other things. Driving is defined as to cause and guides the movement of a vehicle (Driving, …show more content…
This is an important issue because of rising of crashes in the United States that are distracted drivers related. Sundeen noted that 34,400 people get killed every year in the United States because of distracted drivers (Sundeen, 2008). Distracted driving could cost the lives of other people who are on the road. Cell phones are one of the most common distractions that divide drivers’ attention from the road. At the same time, the number of cell phone users are still growing and danger on the road is also growing. One way to solve this problem is to issue a ban using a cell phone while driving in a car, to prevent drivers from becoming distracted from the road. Driving a car is about getting from point A to point B; cars are not designed to do multitasking while driving. Again, distracted driving should not be …show more content…
“Automakers point out that they can’t keep motorist from acting irresponsibility…” (McCosh, 2001). The devices are not always designed to be touched or operate while driving, so it is all up to the drivers. “Although cell phones are responsible for many road fatalities, they can be life-saving in medical emergencies.” (“Distracted Driving: Fast Lane to Disaster,” 2012). Martin stated that, “… drivers spend bigger chunks of each day stuck in traffic, they are forced to make up for lost time.” (Martin, 2002). If there was a better public transportation system, we could have a better approach to solving most of distracted driving
In today’s day and age, there are so many excuses for distracted driving. Lives are put at risk every time a distracted motorist is on the road, and deaths have increased by a substantial amount in the last ten years. On Thursday, April 26th, 2014, one woman’s bad judgement cost her life (Hastings, 1). Not only was she affected, but her friends and family assuredly felt a pain in their hearts. In the few seconds it took Courtney Ann Sanford to post a few words on Facebook, it was enough to distract her from the road and to drive across another lane and through a median straight into a truck (Hastings, 1).
There are approximately 5,400 deaths per year that are linked to distracted driving, and thousands more were injured. (U.S. Department of Labor). Those fatalities are our neighbors, close friends, and even family. How can we prevent this from being so prominent? How can we make the roads a safe place to be again? These questions have many different answers, but many prove to be un-effective. I believe that the best and only way to resolve this issue is to implement tougher laws on cell-phone use in vehicles, and educate our youth to the best of our abilities on the dangers of distracted driving.
The term “distracted driving” may be hard to define, but, simply, it is the act of driving while being engaged in any activity. Stephanie Hanes describes in her article, how texting is a deadly epidemic. The distractions occurring while we drive on the road endangers the lives of drivers and passengers around us. Andrew Lavallee explains in his article “Companies build Services to End Texting and Driving,” how texting is wildly popular these days. David Andreatta points out some activities which drivers are engaged in while on road, in his article “Texting and Driving Can Spell Disaster.”
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated about 9 people die every day in the U.S. due to a distracted driver. A distracted driver is someone who while driving, is being engaged in other activities such as texting, eating, and talking to the passenger. There are three different types of distractions while driving; visual distractions, manual distractions, and cognitive distractions. These types of distractions are very dangerous while driving and there are many things that can be done to prevent or control these distractions.
What is considered to be distracted driving in today’s world, is it just using devices or talking. Well in research article from BMC Public Health, “DD is an activity that can take a driver’s eyes off the road and divert his/her attention to something else”. Distracted driving includes but is not limited to using a mobile device, using a GPS, personal hygiene, talking to passengers, reading, even just adjusting the radio/stereo and list goes on and on. So how do adults and teen drivers classify these, well it is broken down in to 3 different parts. Visual, Manual, and Cognitive. Each equal having a negative effect on adult and teen drivers, cause them to become a DD. These three categories of DD, as found in Maclean’s Magazine, that each one has a certain effect on adult and teen drivers causing them to lose focus on the road in which makes them unaware of their surroundings. The Visual side is anything that cause the adult or teen driver to take their eyes off the road in which causing them to place their eyes on something else. The Manual side is in which the adult or teen driver takes his/hers hands off the wheel for something else in which takes control of motor vehicle away from driver.
Many drivers believe that there is only one way of being distracted on the road. However, there are many. Let me break it down into
Over the years, there has been much controversy as to how the national problem of distracted driving can be resolved. Distracted driving is quickly emerging as a major cause of death. Contrary to belief, by 2030, road traffic injuries are projected to be the fifth leading cause of death worldwide, surpassing HIV, AIDS, cancer, violence, and diabetes (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2014). However, in Canada distracted driving laws are fragmented by provincial and territorial policies and should be implemented into the Criminal Code of Canada, due to the fact that major efforts to enforce and increase penalties have not changed the troubling distracted driving rates. Distracted driving is considered all forms of distraction or inattentive driving where the driver’s eyes are off the road (407 ETR, 2016).
Whether it is a text massage from love one or a bite of a sandwich, it is not so important than a human life. Distracted driving is an epidemic, so more tough laws should be implemented. The law for distracted driving should be tough just like a driving under influence. Distracting driving is a killer on the road, it should be banned because, it is the number one killer of the U.S. teenager in the road, not only the teenager in the road, but also cause a collision which is often fatal, and some incident were driver or one who involve on an accident became disable. Distraction is an involvement of driver where his or hers eye or mind are engage and performing on other things rather than driving, such as while talking on
Distracted driving: the practice of driving a motor vehicle while engaged in another activity. Anything besides focusing on the road can be considered distracted driving. Most people would think that the only real distraction while driving is the use of a cell phone, however, that is entirely untrue. There are people that give the term, distracted driving, a whole new meaning. People do everything from fixing their makeup to shaving while driving in their cars. Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of car crashes in the United States.
Today’s society appears to be constantly on the go. People seem to be pulled in multiple directions at once. Individuals never appear to have enough time to complete tasks that continually accumulate. It can be difficult to criticize someone that tries to make the most out every minute. Unfortunately, some of today’s drivers show a lack of judgment and trying to perform other tasks, while behind the wheel. People may feel this is best use time while getting to a destination. Occasionally, the small amount of time that people are trying to gain results in a time consuming accident. With modern conveniences that are geared toward an on the go public, individuals appear to be too preoccupied to driving safely.
In the article, Matt included an opinion from Ms. Lightner, Lightner states that distracted driving "is not being treated as seriously as drunk driving, and it needs to be,” and that is because if an individual is drunk or distracted their ability to make quick and precise choices on the road are very limited and being behind the wheel of the vehicle while being either has been proven to significantly increase the risk of accidents.
We as a society need to all take responsibility when we are on the road and avoid the many temptations and distractions surrounding us. Distracted driving is dangerous plain and simple. Some may be willing to take the risk because they have never had an accident while behind the wheel. But it’s
Surely, mobile phones are not the only cause of distracted driving, as it appears that any multi-tasking can interfere with a driver's attention to driving, but they are a large problem. Police in the United Arab Emirates reported that a 3-day outage in 2011 of the local Blackberry cellular network resulted in a 40 per cent reduction in traffic accidents.3 Today, a more complete picture of mobile phones and driving is emerging: •Studies, such as the one we publish herein, confirm and refine the observation that distracted driving is a major cause of accidents.4 •Around the world, new communication technology is ever more ubiquitous.5, 6 •Large commercial interests promote these communication technologies. It has always been a problem to keep powerful vehicles fully under control. To do so, society has built safer vehicles and designed safer roads.
Distracted driving is defined as “any activity that could divert a person's attention away from the primary task of driving.” Teenagers and young adults are not the only drivers who are guilty of driving while distracted. Several studies have shown that adults are more likely to text while driving than teen drivers. Distracted driving is quickly becoming one of the leading causes of traffic accidents. Any activity a driver engages in while driving that takes his or her focus off the road can be dangerous, even engaging in a conversation with other passengers.
One of the worst train accidents in U.S history occurred when a conductor exchange a text messages on his phone while operating the train. This issue sparked huge controversy with lawmakers and many states have now enacted bans statewide on a handheld phone usage in the car. Additionally, many states have also enacted laws that make it illegal for bus drivers and drivers with a learner's’ permits to use handheld devices in the cars. The use of cellphones while driving is not only distraction, but it is known to potentially cause disasters like the one discussed above. Cell phone usage while operating a vehicle should be banned in this country because it will prevent more death that occur every day.