“Ma'am, your son is dead.” There is not a mother on earth than would like to hear this statement. “He got into a vehicle accident on the road.” How quick was that? Just an hour ago, the family was having dinner, laughing and discussing their day, not knowing that one of them would leave the family permanently, all because of a single mobile phone. Driving a car is the most dangerous form of transportation, though drivers find ways to expand upon this. Even some of the most law-abiding people on the road may or may not admit to pulling out their cellphone to check for a notification or text. Teens, while only starting their driving experience, are not always very careful. They go over the speed limit, fail to turn on turn signals, and do not …show more content…
According to many, are laws are not as strict as they should be. “Our current laws are woefully inadequate.” (Winsten, 2015, pg. 1) No one will get even a day or two behind bars for getting caught on the highway with a phone in their hands, looking at the screen for hundreds of yards without looking up, endangering everyone around them. This is how nasty accidents happen, and it is hard to tell whether or not an accident will kill someone, so why even take the risk? The death toll is scarier than people may think. “Each day in the United States, on average, eight families bury a loved one killed by a distracted driver.” (Altschiller, 2017, pg. 1) Additionally, while teenagers, seemingly harmless, have contributed the most towards this horrid statistic. The deaths caused by teens are mostly due to poor driving skills and a lack of attentiveness on the road. “Ten percent of all drivers aged 15-19 involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted at the time of the accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration.” (Altschiller, 2017, pg. 2) Fortunately, there are people that know of the consequences to come. “Without a seismic change in driver attitudes, the situation will only worsen, says James: ‘Every generation is going to be more aggressive, more competitive and more …show more content…
Even though cell phones are a primary road distraction, they should, according to activists, treated the same as guns, because, “Guns don’t shoot people; people shoot people”. “I don't think we do, anymore than we need greater gun regulation because of the increasing number of deaths and injuries caused by guns. Cellphone usage should be viewed in the same way.” (Dutton, 2017, pg.1) Sure, the phones themselves are not causing the accidents, but that does not mean we should keep them out. Some have taken this to the extreme and claimed that there was a lack of evidence on the matter. “The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that despite what everyone's seeing on the highway, there's no hard evidence so far to tie the dramatic increase in crashes or traffic fatalities to smartphone use.” (Kunkle, 2016, pg. 1) Even so, that doesn’t mean that smartphones can’t be listed as a prime suspect. Even with newer and stern guidelines, people argue that it will not stop them from checking their phones from time to time, unless it violated their privacy. “Highlighting the new law and putting an emphasis on older laws will not be a cure-all, but it certainly has the potential to save lives. The Department of Licensing made the right call to expand the driver's test.” (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 2016, pg. 1) That would require police to be notified every time a
Jackson, Nancy Mann. ʺCell Phones and Texting Endanger Teen Drivers.ʺ Teen Driving. Ed. Michele Siuda Jacques. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from ʺDn't txt n drv: Why You Should Disconnect While Driving.ʺ Current Health Teens (Mar. 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
In this article written by the author Bruce Feiler, titled “Teenage Drivers? Be Very Afraid”, he talks about how he suggest the parents to stop being helicopter parents and allow their children to be independent. However, other professionals’ suggestions are the opposite when teenagers start to drive. As a result of the teenagers’ immaturity, the parents are told to be more involved because their child’s life may be in danger. As stated in the article by Nichole Moris “the most dangerous two years of your life are between 16 and 17, and the reason for that is driving.” There are various factors that play huge roles through this phrase of the teenagers’ life: other passengers, cellphones, and parents. In 2013, under a million teenage drivers were involved in police-reported crashes, according to AAA. The accidents could have been more but many teenage accidents go unreported. As a result, one of their recommendations to the parents is to not allow their children to drive with other passengers: other passengers can big a huge distraction and could increase the rate of crashes by 44 percent. That risk doubles with a second passenger and quadruples with three or more. Furthermore, as technology has taken over teenagers’ lives, the parents should suggest to those teenagers who insists on using the phones that the only safe place for it to be: in a dock, at eye level, on the dashboard. The worst place is the cup holder, the driver’s lap, and the passenger’s seat. Next, professionals also suggest that the parents implement their own rule and even continue the ones like the graduated driver’s licenses regulations. This regulation includes restrictions like not allowing their children to drive between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. To
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 effected, 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). She was immediately killed. Shortly before her Facebook post, she was sending selfies to her friends (Hastings, 3). This just goes to show
Car crashes are no laughing matter. Being in a car crash and seeing a family suffer because of the crash is devastating. The only thing being more horrific than witnessing the crash is being the reason it started. There is no need to be on your phone while driving. Emails, texts, and social media can wait. In their editorial, Editorial Board, Star Tribune explains why a bipartisan plan to restrict cellphone use while driving should get approved this session in Minnesota. First, Star Tribune incorporates specific details to emphasize the significance of this bill getting put in place. Then, Star Tribune appeals to your logos by adding statistics into their editorial to express the injury and death
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.
According to Stephanie Hanes in the essay “Texting While Driving Is as Dangerous as Drunk Driving,” a driver on a phone and those talking on a phone are four times likely to crash. This statistic shows how dangerous using the phone or even texting is while driving. As technology has increased, so has the use of cellphone. Distracted driving has caused an increase in car fatalities and disasters. However, distracted driving can be prevented if drivers take precautions, but no matter what we do, trouble will always be spelling on the road.
Distracted driving is such an increasing problem in the U.S. that there are laws against driving distracted. In New Jersey there is a handheld ban for all drivers and that is a primary law. There is a ban on all cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for novice drivers. There is also a ban on texting for all drivers. This problem Is growing, drivers who are texting are 23.2 times more likely to get into a crash than people who aren’t (Cell Phones and Texting). Every driver takes their eyes off the road for approximately 4.6 seconds when texting. Driving is a new skill for teens, so doing multiple things simultaneously takes more effort for them than for more experienced drivers. Texting and driving can ruin families because when texting and driving there is a higher chance of getting in a crash. There are only 2 percent of people who can actually multitask successfully. Even though teens are more likely to try multitasking they are still part of the 98 percent who can’t do it safely. For example, Nebraska teen Emily Reynolds says...
The top two age groups that are involved in car accidents due to distracted driving are is aged twenty and under with 16% and ages 20-29 with 13% (paragraph 4). Some people may ask how many people actually use their phones while behind the wheel between all drivers, and at any time of the day across America, approximately over six hundred thousand drivers use their cell phone while driving, and that number has been growing and growing since 2010. Teens are more involved in distracted driving accidents than older people aged thirty and up. A study about teens and adults involved in distracted driving accidents displayed that teen drivers are FOUR times more likely to get into a fatal car accident due to distracted driving than an adult (paragraph 11). But everyone is the same when it comes to distracted driving. Many young drivers know the dangers of texting and driving, but just can’t stop it because they are addicted to their cell phones. “Nor is it possible to overestimate how addicted Americans are to their cellphones. In a Transportation Department survey released this week, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said talking on a handheld phone was "very or somewhat unsafe." Yet 77% reported answering calls while driving, and 41% said they made calls.” Some helpful tips to help you stop texting and
Teenagers in particular may think that nothing will ever happen to them, as long as they know what they are doing. On the contrary, the article SAFETY: Teens target texting drivers talks about a story about an 18-year-old driver, who was texting his friends while driving until he lost control and collided with a truck (Emerson 1). Looking at the big picture, young drivers have a hard time making judgement calls, which make them more vulnerable to any type of risks. It is the driver’s fault, but the urge to look at a phone and see what the text has to say is not worth it because impaired vision can lead to an epidemic. Unfortunately, when a person feels aggravated they tend to be what most people consider to be road
When a person dies in an accident or become disable because of an accident, it is not only a single life will be effected by a preventive accident, it is about the emotional connection to those life of so many life who will be suffering because of the devastating accident. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “In 2013, 2,163 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed and 243,243 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes.1 That means that six teens ages 16–19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries”(CDC). Today alarming numbers of teens are dying not because of drugs, not even from drinking and driving, but because of the accident which could have prevented. Today smartphone is gaining popularity on all ages, particularly among the teenagers, and these smartphone also fueled teens who were already engaging on phone while driving. Report published from American Psychological Association that, parents are having a direct role on distracting their kids while they were driving. Forty three percent of teens said that they talk to their parent while driving and another twenty six percent of teen text. ( in need intext citation )If we have so many data and research that are saying loud about the fatality number on distraction teens while driving, why parents are forcing their kids to die. According to the National Highway Traffic Administrations year 2011 report, teenager from age fifteen to nineteen years make ten percent of all drivers who involve in a fetal crash who were distracted while operation moto vehicle; most of them were using a cell phone (NHTSA 2015), we have to acknowledge the risk of our decision and that five seconds of time spending off of road to read a massage will cost a life and
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.
Not only does it put the driver of the car in danger, but it also puts the passengers and the surrounding cars at risk. Using a cell phone while driving has been proven to be just as dangerous as driving under the influence. At any given moment during the day, around 800,000 people are driving cars while using a hand-held device, which unfortunately puts everyone else at risk of a car crash. In the recent year, 21% of fatal car crashes involved the use of a cellular device (Prof. David J. Hanson, 1997-2015). Unfortunately, humans, especially teenagers, cannot put down their cell phones while they drive due to the many notifications they receive. They are addicted. This points back to how the cell phones are affecting the mental health of humans. In 2007, Bailey Goodman, a seventeen-year-old, was killed along with four of her friends in a car accident. Goodman
Teenagers don’t want to be inconvenient with having to wait to respond to their friends about the latest party or school event that’s coming up. Driving is just as good of time as any to text their best friends about the upcoming weekend or update their Facebook status in the mind of a young adult. Even though most teens know they shouldn’t text and drive many are guilty of doing it several times a day. An overwhelming 75% of teens even admit to text messaging while driving (“Distracted Driving,” 2016). Young drivers are more likely to get into an accident due to lack of experience than that of any other driver on the road. Add in texting to the mix it is a recipe for disaster. About 54% of teenage motor vehicle crash deaths occur on Friday, Saturday or Sunday – with Saturday being the deadliest day of the week for teens (Hosansky, 2012). Teenage motor vehicle fatalities are at the highest in the summer months.
People are constantly fixated on their phones, checking social media and texting and they seem to have become accustom to doing this wherever they please, whether it be at dinner, at work or in the car. The use of a cell phone while driving is extremely dangerous and destructive to not only the driver, but also everyone driving around them. Every year, twenty one percent of fatal car crashes involving teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 were the result of using their cell phone while behind the wheel. This statistic is expected to grow as much as four percent every year. But, texting and driving is not just a problem among teen drivers. One-fifth of adult drivers in the United States also report sending text messages while driving (“Cell Phone & Texting Accidents”). To help fight this problem, the government needs much take a stronger stance and try to stand up against texting and driving to make the idea a bigger deal and implement harsher punishments, as well as stressing the damaging effects of texting and driving to children and teens early on in
The use of mobile phones while driving are a major destruction to the drivers, it is definitely no different from a mother trying to nurse a baby at the back sit. A good percentage of road accidents has been attributed to driver destruction. (David and William, 2001) There are evidence of cell phone related road carnages and this remains to be a concern. In 1999 a girl was killed by a driver when he got destructed by a phone, same case reported last year and even the death of a state corrections officer on North Carolina. However much drivers say they have a right to use their mobile phones, they should know of the destructions it causes when