Accidents Caused by Texting and Driving

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.

Hands-free cell phones may allow the driver to keep both hands on the wheel however, devices such as headsets or voice activated dialing led to longer dialing times causing the same level of driver distraction. Even though a study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety claims bans on handheld cell phones in many states seem to have had no impact on accident rates, drivers still should not use a hand held phone while driving in the car because car accidents associated with hand held phone use account for nearly three hundred deaths per year showing cell phone users are four times as likely to get into an automobile accident serious enough to cause injury. University of Utah psychologists have published a study which highlights drivers talking on handheld or hands-free cellular phones as being impaired on the same level as drunken drivers. In this study each of the tests subjects drove in a driving simulator four times; once each while completely undistracted, using a handheld device, using a hands-free device, and intoxicated with vodka and orange juice up to the legal limit of .08. The simulation had the participants following a ... ... middle of paper ... ...icleid=43812.

This shows that that texting while driving is a widespread epidemic. When a survey asked teenagers whether they text and drive,“seventy five percent of teens admitted to texting while driving” (7).Distracted driving causes seventy-eight percent of car crashes(Bernstein). “No distraction causes as high of a risk of an accident as texting while driving” (Gardner). Also with these statistics, it is not hard to understand why accidents in teenagers that are driving have risen. The Bluetooth capability in cars gives a driver a hands-free way to talk on the phone, but is still not completely safe (8).

People from the ages fifteen to nineteen are more likely to get in fatal car crashes because they are always on their cell phones (“Distracted Driving 2011”). Out of that 11 percent of fifteen to nineteen year olds that were in fatal car crashes, 21 percent of those people had crashed because of using their cell phones while driving their vehicle (“Distracted Driving 2011”). In 2011, over forty-three thousand people had been involved in fatal car crashes in the United States (“Distracted Driving 2011”). Out of those forty-three thousand people, over thirty-two thousand were killed in those crashes in 2011 (“Distracted Driving 2011”). There are three different types of distractions while driving; visual: taking your eyes off the road; manual: taking your hands off of the steering wheel; and cognitive: taking your mind off of driving (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Connect Amarillo. N.p., 9 Oct. 2011. Web. 7 May 2014. . "texting while driving now leading cause of death for teen drivers."

The National Safety Council estimated that at least 1.6 million crashes each year involve drivers using cell phones and texting. Regardless of the risk, the majority of teen drivers ignore cell phone and driving restrictions. Talking on a cell phone while driving can make a young drivers reaction time as slow as a 70-year olds reaction. As 56% of teenagers admit to talking on their cell phones behind the wheel, while 13% admit to texting while driving. Although, because this information was taken by volunteer Jackard

"Teens React to Graphic PSA about Distracted Driving." SCNow. N.p., 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 16 May 2014.

According to Gale Opposing Resource Center “5,870 people were killed in 2008 and an additional 515,000 people were injured due to distracted driving” (texting). This drastic increase means that if this trend continues there will be over 16,000 deaths in the next three years if the accident rate remains static, which is highly unlikely. The texting while driving article on Gale Opposing Rescores Center revealed, “that nearly 75 percent of twelve to seventeen year olds own a cell phone. Of these, 34 percent admit to texting while driving. Additionally, 48 percent of teens say they were passengers in a c... ... middle of paper ... ...e some lives.

Texting and Driving Teenagers and adults day after day suffer from the wrath of texting and driving. The National Highway Traffic Administration reported that in “2010, texting and driving was the cause of eighteen percent of all fatal crashes with 3,092 people killed. Texting and driving also resulted in crashes that cause 416,000 people being wounded” (Par. 6). Cell phone use in cars starts to become an issue when the number one driving distraction reported by teen and young adult drivers is texting and driving.

What is the number one cause of teenage deaths in the United States? In this country a teenager dies due to alcohol related car accidents every twenty-two seconds. Drunk driving accidents are the number one killer of adolescents (Teenagers and peer pressures. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from).