Driving drowsy and speeding are both very dangerous, but a driver that is driving drowsy is more dangerous. According to Jake Nelson, director of Traffic Safety Advocacy and Research, said, “getting only four to five hours of sleep in a night is the same as driving when legally drunk” (Weaver). The reaction times when wide awake are different than the reaction times when drowsy. Drivers that are wide awake can get distracted and react to some type of stimulus. They also can react to some type of stimulus when drowsy. When a person is wide awake and they see a cat in the road, their reaction to the stimulus may be different when they are drowsy. There have been many wrecks happen because of speeding. When a car goes 10 miles per hour over the …show more content…
Most of the time a driver can go five miles over the speed limit, depending on the traffic. When a driver is going 55 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour speed zone, it is going to take them longer to react to a stimulus because they are going ten miles over the speed limit. That may not seem like a big difference, but it is. For example, in a school zone the speed limit is 15 to 25 miles per hour. If a driver is going 35 or 40 miles per hour in that speed zone, they are more likely to hit a child who walks across the street, because they aren’t going to be able to react quick enough. According to the article, Vehicle Stopping Distance and Time, at “55 miles per hour a car travels 80.7 feet per second” (Vehicle Stopping Distance and Time). If a vehicle is going 55 miles per hour in 45 miles per hour speed zone, and they are trying to come to a stop, they would travel 217.1 feet. First, this is calculated by dividing the velocity, 80.7 by 15, which is 5.38 seconds. Then, multiply the velocity by one half and 5.38 seconds to get how many feet are being travelled when trying to come to a stop. When a vehicle is going the right speed, which is 45 miles per hour, they would travel 145.2 …show more content…
Millions of people suffer from automobile accidents every day. Most car accidents include injuries, such as scrapes and cuts, head injuries, chest injuries, and arm and leg injuries. Seat belts can help prevent these types of injuries. When a person has to slam on their brakes, a seat belt prevents them from flying out of the car. Air bags are also important safety precautions. The driver’s side and passenger side air bags are most likely to prevent injury. The sensors from the air bags give off nitrogen gas, which inflates the air bag. When the driver or passenger is thrown into the bag, a restraining force is applied. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states, “even though this entire process happens in 1/25th of a second, the added time is enough to prevent serious injury” (Keller). Crumple zones allow the front of the vehicle to act as a cushion. This slows the time it takes the vehicle to come to a stop, which applies less force on the passengers. In my opinion, I think driving drowsy is more dangerous. When someone is driving drowsy, they aren’t putting their full attention on the road. If one isn’t paying attention to the road, they aren’t going to be able to see what is in front of them. Speeding isn’t safe, but at least when somebody is speeding they are usually paying attention. To avoid driving drowsy, people need to nap before they drive, especially if they think they are going to fall
Statistics show 16- to 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger, which is due to distracted driving. Taking your eyes off the road for 2 (two) seconds, at 60 mph, means you have driven blindly for half the length of a football field. The risk of fatality is 3.6 times higher, when they are driving with passengers than when alone. For many years, the correlation between driving behavior and age has interested highway safety researchers and administrators. It is general knowledge that the greatest risk of motor vehicle crash...
National Highway Safety and Traffic Administration (n.d.) Drowsy Driving and Automobile Crashes. Retrieved from: http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/drowsy_driving1/drowsy.html
The CDC recommends a minimum of 7-8 hours a night for adults, but many adults fall far below this range.[3,4], However, the recommendation does not take into consideration people’s different lifestyles, which might necessitate getting even more sleep. Thus, it is advisable to consult a health professional to determine the right amount of sleep for each individual. Much of poor academic performance and even physical accidents can be prevented by eliminating sleep deprivation. According to a survey by the CDC, 7% of 25-34 year olds fell asleep while driving during the previous 30 days before being surveyed. Over ⅓ of all adults report unintentionally falling asleep in the same time period. Alarmingly, the Department of Transportation estimates that drowsy driving is responsible for 1550 fatalities, and 40,000 injuries
Many people drive for a living. They have to drive long hours on any given day. However, simply because you are a driver doesn’t mean you have to do so while you are sleepy. You can pull over and get a few hours of rest to ensure you are safe on the road.
Lack of sleep may cause an accident. As you get drowsy, your reaction becomes slow as much as driving drunk.
One of the main factors of injuries in the United States is motor vehicle crashes, and inattentive driving contributes greatly to the occurrence of these accidents (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016).
Drivers who speed often do not realize the enormous danger they are creating. When someone is speeding they have a higher braking time and are often going too fast to notice all of their surroundings, and fail to take all of the safety precautions a driver should use. Road conditions play a large role in the effects of speeding. Choosing to speed can also get a person’s license taken away, cost a fortune, or both.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines aggressive driving as "the operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger persons or property"—a traffic and not a criminal offense like road rage. Examples include speeding or driving too fast for conditions, improper lane changing, tailgating and improper passing. Approximately 6,800,000 crashes occur in the United States each year; a substantial number are estimated to be caused by aggressive driving. 1997 statistics compiled by NHTSA and the American Automobile Association show that almost 13,000 people have been injured or killed since 1990 in crashes caused by aggressive driving. According to a NHTSA survey, more than 60 percent of drivers consider unsafe driving by others, including speeding, a major personal threat to themselves and their families. About 30 percent of respondents said they felt their safety was threatened in the last month, while 67 percent felt this threat during the last year. Weaving, tailgating, distracted drivers, and unsafe lane changes were some of the unsafe behaviors identified. Aggressive drivers are more likely to drink and drive or drive unbelted. Aggressive driving can easily escalate into an incident of road rage. Motorists in all 50 states have killed or injured other motorists for seemingly trivial reasons. Motorists should keep their cool in traffic, be patient and courteous to other drivers, and correct unsafe driving habits that are likely to endanger, antagonize or provoke other motorists. More than half of those surveyed by NHTSA admitted to driving aggressively on occasion. Only 14 percent felt it was "extremely dangerous" to drive 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. 62 percent of those who frequently drive in an unsafe and illegal manner said police for traffic reasons had not stopped them in the past year. The majority of those in the NHTSA survey (52 percent) said it was "very important" to do something about speeding. Ninety-eight percent of respondents thought it "important" that something be done to reduce speeding and unsafe driving. Those surveyed ranked the following countermeasures, in order, as most likely to reduce aggressive and unsafe driving behaviors: (1) more police assigned to traffic control, (2) more frequent ticketing of traffic violations, (3) higher fines, and (4) i...
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
Many people feel like they’ll be able to overcome their tiredness but truthfully you cannot fight your sleepiness especially while you are out on the road. Others believe that once they get on the road they’ll be able to wake up but that’s not always the case. Instead of pulling over their vehicles, many people chose to continue to drive while they are tired. This can be an extremely dangerous routine to adopt. According to researchers, many of the fatal crashes showed that the drivers were not getting enough sleep and were up longer than they need to be. Drivers that pulled over and took a nap were less likely to end up in a fatal accident (OH Editorial Staff). Some drivers also said that they didn’t feel too comfortable pulling over on the side of the road to take a nap because they felt it wasn’t safe (Yee 232). This can be true in some cases but people that feel this way would have to ask, would they rather take the chance of seriously injuring themselves?
Drunk driving is extremely impactful on the lives of you and others. While drinking and driving, you are not just endangering yourself, you are also endangering the lives of others. The driver of the car does not just control the car with their hands and feet. They need their brain to function properly so that you are able to react to objects on the road quicker and control the car. If you drink then drive/ drink while driving. Alcohol affects your brain in many ways that inhibit your ability to drive. Alcohol will affect your reaction time, it slows your reflexes which decrease your ability to react to objects on the road. It affects your vision, in can impair your color perception, and night vision. It slows down the movement in the muscles in your eye causing your visual perception to change. Alcohol affects your ability to track. You will not be able to judge the position of cars ahead of you, you won’t be able to judge the
The most dangerous type of distracted driving is visual. A visual distraction is something that causes someone to take their eyes off the road (“Distraction”). While travelling at speeds of 55 miles per hour, it only takes 5 seconds to travel the length of a football field (Marino). Travelling that distance without looking at the road, will wind up hitting an animal, another car, or worst of all another person.
When you are driving you always have to be alert and have your eyes all over the road. Being that no one can foretell the future you never know what is around the corner. At any given time an accident can occur and if one does and your are in close range of it, it is up to you to stop in enough time to avoid the accident and to avoid one of your own. This act of avoiding an accident all depends on your response time. Your response time in the amount of time a person requires before they can act. Your response time has a direct impact on your driving. As you know it takes time to realize the situation and then more time added to that to actually respond to the whole situation. If you are not quick to act, then most likely you will be apart of the crash. That is why getting a better knowledge of your response time is very important because it can save your lives as well as others.
First of all it is obvious that a motorist driving over the speed limit has more chances of getting into an accident that a motorist who is traveling at the average speed. One who drives fast does not have proper and that well of a control on the vehicle as one that is moving at a safe speed or at the speed limit mark. It is true that traveling above the speed limit will save time and time is money but is it really worth it. Speed over the limit is a major factor in about two to five percent of fatalities. When driving over the limit it is hard to determine the other drivers speed, this is called the speed variance and this can cause an accident while overtaking the other vehicle or simply changing lanes because the other driver could be speeding up as well, at the same time as you are changing lanes that would result in an accident.
Imagine driving on I-75 as cars race by you at a blink of an eye. You are driving 60 miles per hour, the speed limit; they must be doing 100 miles per hour or more. This is not an illusion; this is the reality of driving on a highway. Believe it, it happens everyday. Cars race down the road at uncontrollable speeds that cause tickets, accidents, and sadly death. Speed limits are a must for traffic control, for safety in neighborhoods and for avoidance of collisions.