Technology in our Vehicles

Even though talking on a cellular phone while driving effects how a person drives, text messaging is consider the most dangerous effect. In studies from scholarly authors, a variety of authors discuss about the differences between text messaging while driving versus conversing while driving, fatality rate caused by automobile accidents due to cell phone usage, and impairing of texting and talking while driving using participants. Though, some people would say the discoveries among authors are just concerns, but these discoveries are serious and driver should consider the concerns because operating a cellphone while driving can cause accidents on roadways. Understanding the discoveries of texting and talking while driving will help prevent accidents. Throughout the articles the researchers goal is simply for drivers to understand the effects of using a cellular phone while driving and help driver stop talking and text messaging while driving.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, preoccupied drivers are responsible for nearly 80% of all crashes in the United States (Teen). The majority of driver distractions can be blamed on cell phones. Despite laws banning the act of cellular use while behind the wheel and commercials advising against it, young drivers addicted to sending text messages are often unfazed by these attempts and continue to put lives at risk. In response to this rising trend, the Gwent Police Department in Wales met with filmmaker Peter Watkins-Hughes in 2009 to produce a shocking short film, COW (Gwent). With other advertisements taking a less-realistic approach and making little impact, COW was a way for the Gwent Police to take a dramatic stand to deter teens from texting while driving by providing audiences with a vivid inspection of the notorious statistics.

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).

It goes to show you that these people chose style and comfort over their lives and the live of others. Most of the automotive accident statistics are quite overwhelming, and they show for themselves why today’s cars must be made safer. 6,289,000 reported crashes, 3,200,000 people injured, and 41,345 deaths (car accident statistics). These are some of the statistics as of 1999 and they are expected to rise, due to the large number of automobile we are buying. By mandating the installation of certain safety devices in cars we can reduce these numbers drastically.

They often think of a car as being some type of toy, but they do not know how powerful it really is. The driver education programs must be strengthened in order to make sure that students really have safer habits, behind the wheel experience, and by having a better understanding of all the laws on the road. The course gives teens a better understanding of safer driving habits to maintain. For example, a while ago a young man was killed in an accident due to a bad habit: the driver was drinking and driving. As stated in a journal, “Alcohol involvement among drivers fifteen to twenty years old involved in fatal crashes, in 2003, numbers of surviving was 4227, and fatally injured was 3657”(Best, 663).

The cell phone however, while convenient, will often lead to many hazardous accidents and sometimes deaths. While most will admit using a cell phone while driving is dangerous, many still do it. Distracted driving as a whole should been seen as a violent act of selfishness closely related to murderous intent. The use of a cell phone behind the wheel is just like being drunk behind the wheel so it is easy to imagine thousands of people driving throughout the day “drunk”. David L. Strayer, Professor at the University of Utah in Cognition and Neural Science, reveals in his research “A Comparison of the Cell Phone Driver and the Drunk Driver” that “people who drive while talking on their cell phones are as impaired as drunk drivers with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 %”(Strayer).

Don’t Text and Drive: Let’s Save Some Lives In today’s society, texting and driving have become an issue. Many teens and adults, have formed a habit of using their cell phones while driving. Texting while driving can be very distracting, which can cause many accidents to happen. In trying to prevent this, new laws have been passed, making the use of cell phones while operating a car, illegal. However, too many people do not respect this law.

A study made by Virginia Tech, says that an individual is twenty-three times more likely to get in a car accident if they are distracted by a mobile device (cbsnews.com). Thirty-eight states have banned texting, and 8 states have partial bands on texting and driving. Evidence shows that drivers that are distracted by a phone, while behind the wheel of a 4000 pound vehicle endanger not only themselves but others as well. “You’re a hazardous driver to yourself and everybody else” (Web MD). The impacts and effects associated with texting and driving should be outlawed because of the danger that every single driver and passenger are at risk of.

Instead, drivers need to put down the phone and focus on the road. The Untied States government reports that eighty percent of total car collisions are linked to unfocused driving (“Multitasking Leads to Distracted Driving”). This overwhelming number sends a great message: driving needs to be taken more seriously. Even without using a cell phone, managing a vehicle can be difficult enough. Ray LaHood, the Secretary of Transportation of the US Department of Transportation, said, “Distracted driving is a menace to society.

The reasons that the number of car fatalities are still not decreasing at a faster speed is because of the main problem that many people on the road suffer with. The problem is distracted drivers who are not paying attention to the primary tasks of driving a vehicle, which requires all focus in o... ... middle of paper ... ... of distracted driving” United States Congress House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit One Hundred Eleventh Congress, first session. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2009. Print.