Driver distraction contributes 20 to 30 percent of all road collisions (Dews & Stayer, 2009). Distraction can be explained by the act of competing activity and doing other things in the vehicle. Driver distraction has become worse when there are a lot advanced technologies that easily use even in vehicles. Mobile phone is one of the technologies that have been widely used. Almost everyone all across the globe is using mobile phone as it is considered as necessary item to have and it is affordable as well. Furthermore, it is unquestionable that the growing trend of mobile phones enhances the communication and telecommunication businesses as well as boost personal convenience. Nevertheless, the excessive usage of mobile phones has taken part …show more content…
It reduces the driver’s alertness, decision making as well as performance which may lead to an accident or near-crash incident” (Hedlund, 2006). There are three features of the problem which are the effects on driving performance, the cause of distraction and the possible consequences. Furthermore, Governors Highway Safety Association’s (GHSA) defines distracted driving as: “Distraction takes place when a driver willingly diverts their attention or concentration away from driving to something else which is not related to driving with the usage of the driver’s eyes, ears, or hands” (GHSA, 2011). Distracted driving is when the drivers are giving their attentions to the mobile phones instead of paying attention to the road. Distracted driving and the use of mobile phone in a car has become synonym for the public in today’s era. Distracted driving covers a wider range of activities, not to focus on texting only as there are other activities that have become a habit or routine while driving (Robertson, 2010). However, texting behind the wheel is one of the major problems …show more content…
From the number of cases stated, there were 182 deaths, 88 persons were suffering from very serious injuries and another 205 persons were having minor injuries. MIROS stated that careless driving can be caused by distracted driving which is using mobile phone while driving. In a mean time, there were about 462,423 cases of road accidents have documented in a year 2012 itself. There was a study in the United States in a year 2006 saying that drivers who use mobile phone while driving has four times higher risk and there is higher possibilities of getting crashed. Even worse when a driver is texting while driving as the probability of getting into road accident grew up to 23 times higher than driving alone without the use of mobile phone. According to experiments that have been conducted by MIROS, they found that distracted drivers have 23 percent slower reaction time and 30 percent slower for mental processing
Every person who has gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle will be involved in some sort of automobile collision at some point in his or her lifetime. Traffic accidents account for over twenty thousand deaths each year and more than ten times as many injuries. There are a number of factors that contribute to these types of collisions, however, new and evolving laws can account for a large portion of successful preventable measures. In order for laws to be changed or added for the purpose of safer roads and highways, lawmakers have to first look at what factors contribute to such unsafe conditions. The top five causes of automobile accidents that cause injury are distracted drivers, driver fatigue, drunk driving, speeding, and aggressive driving. Laws can be proposed to reduce and even eliminate each of these risks.
The several effects of distracted driving are deadly. Andrew Lavallee points out that “texting while driving is unsafe. Not only are a driver’s eyes off the road, one or both hands are off the wheel.” “We think it is incompatible with safe driving” (qtd. in Lavallee). “Study upon study showed that talking on a cellphone was far more dangerous than she’d realized – that a driver on a phone had the same reaction speed as someone legally intoxicated, that those talking on a phone behind the wheel are four times as likely to crash” (qtd. in Hanes). Stephanie Hanes also mentions that, “Unlike a conversation with a passenger, the electronic conversation takes a driver into a virtual space away from the road.” Subsequently, this causes severe problems and deadly
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.
One of the dangers of texting and driving is that it causes distractions. These distractions cause car accidents and unnecessary deaths of innocent drivers on the road. In a recent report done in 2011 The National Safety Council
(www.iihs.org., n.d.) This approach to driver safety also fails to address the source of our distraction and instead appears to have accepted that we will be focusing on tasks other than driving and therefore systems must be integrated into our perception process to correct the errors therein. For instance, adaptive cruise control slows the car to the speed of the car in front of us so that our reaction time is extended indefinitely. Blind spot monitoring allows us to change lanes without a shoulder check and some cars now alert the driver when drowsy behavior is detected. There may be truth in this theory but as Gibson and Crooks stated our perception of the risk and reward will change minute to minute considering the perceived risk which includes technological aids.
So just how dangerous can texting while driving actually be? According to Monash University, “those drivers who use handheld devices while driving are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves” (qtd. in Wilson 1). This is not good because there are thousands of divers that are on the road at any given time. University of Utah reports, “Using a cell phone while driving, whether it’s handheld or hands-free, delays the driver’s reaction as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of 0.08%” (qtd. in Wilson 1). With more drivers out there that lead to the possibility that a crash could happen “The time it takes to is an average of 4.6 seconds, would be equal to traveling the length of a football field at 55mph visionless.” (Wilson 1). Carnegie Mellon reports, “that with the use of a mobile cellphone reduces the amount of brain activity by associated with driving by 37%” (qtd. in Wilson 1). The Nation...
Each day in the United States, over 8 people are killed and 1,161 injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver (Distracted Driving). There are a few different
First and foremost, the risk of using a phone while driving is a big chance of an accident more than what the people think. According to the Harvard study “Texting while driving and other forms of distracted driving are responsible for more than 1 million crashes, 400,000 injuries, and 3,000 deaths in the U.S. each year—and those numbers are likely to in...
It is hard to imagine that you could be the cause or victim of a distracted driving accident. I also shared similar sentiments until I experienced until experience taught me otherwise. Distracted driving is a serious problem, especially in developed nations, and is a leading cause of many road accidents. I am fortunate to have learned this important lesson five years ago and hope that my story has at least played a role in dissuading others from the use of phones while driving. For those who are still unconvinced, I will delineate some of the key reasons why you should stop this bad habit.
According to Ian Mulgrew, a journalist/author from Canada, many accidents are blamed on distracted driving and most of the distractions are caused by cell phone usage (Mulgrew). This shows that accidents are being caused by texting and driving. A majority of people have busy lives that leaves them to get things done while on the road. Texting or using a cell phone while driving is very hazardous to yourself and the people surrounding you. Most people are against this action is because it causes many car accidents every year. Did you know that texting while driving is one of the longest eyes-off-the road time of distracted driving activities? According to DWI, text messaging makes a crash up to 23 times more likely. While other activities like, dialing, talking or listening or reaching for a device is less likely. While driving, adults and teenagers cannot resist the urge to pick up their cell phone and send a text or respond to one. When a
Yet, this activity is underestimated by a lot of people. They do not aware that driving can lead to some dangerous causes, for an example an accident or crash. Car accident is mostly caused by the distracted driver that is unaware of what is happening on the road. People should focus on the road when they are driving, thus they will be aware of their surrounding. People are frequently distracted while driving, especially by their smartphones.
Mitigating the Threat of Cell Phone Use While Driving A major threat to the safety of people on road ways are distracted drivers. Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person's attention away from the primary task of driving. All distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety. ("Key Facts").
Common traits of a distracted driver include texting, calling, Snapchatting, emailing, doing their makeup and the worst of all, Facetiming all while driving. A distracted driver may be found admitting to their bad habit, but defending it with how they are a skilled multitasker. This style of driving causes harm to the driver themselves, their passengers, and anyone else remotely close to their vehicle while it is in movement. Driving carefully is the last thing on these type of people’s minds. Somehow, the distracted drivers forget that focusing their attention away from the road compromises the safety of others.
When people eat, drink, text, or otherwise distract themselves from driving and come close to or even do cause an accident.
The main distraction of driving is cell phones. Most adults and teens will engage in texting and driving. Due to the major issue of texting and driving many campaigns have been launched, one being launched by AT&T “when it comes to texting and driving, it can wait.” This campaign has many drivers take the pledge to no longer use their phone when driving, there is an available app that will send out automatic messages to anybody that sends a while the individual is driving. When someone is driving at the rate of 55 miles per hour for only 4.6 seconds, it will equal the length of a football field, 100 yards. So, even stopping full vision from the road for a few seconds will still risk serious danger. Another cause of distracted driving is being exhausted or tired, doing so will cause a much slower reaction time. The slower reaction time causes many of the accidents that happen when people are tired. Another possibility is falling asleep behind the wheel even for a few seconds you could drift, or swerv into another lane and hit another car causing a major or fatal car accident. When taking driving classes, the students within the class will hear the saying “stay alert, stay alive.” The final major distraction of driving is eating and drinking. One of the problems of eating and drinking while driving is that it causes both a visual and manual distraction. When removing your eyes from the road many dangers will be