Texting And Driving: The Dangers Of Driving While Driving

Have you ever been in a car while someone was texting on their phone? It has been proven that 3,000 annual teens die nationwide and have more than 300,000 injuries from texting. This paper will inform you about how driving and texting is more dangerous that it looks. Please be aware most of these accidents are really hectic. Many people lose their lives every day from cellular devices.

Out of all American teens 48% say that they have been in a car while the driver was using their phone in a way that put them in danger. All drivers under the age of 20, 11% involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted at the time of the crash. This age group has the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted. Out of all cell phone related tasks, talking on the phone, reaching for the phone, or dialing- texting and driving is the most dangerous. Teenage drivers are four times more likely than adults to get into a car crash or near car crash events, while using a cell phone while driving.

The scary thing is that 77% of young adults are either a little or extremely confident that they can safely text and drive, while another 50% claim it’s easy to do. Last year, 1.3 million accidents were a result of texting while driving. There are way too many risks that come along with it. According to Mary Madden and Amanda Lenhart (2009), “ forty percent of teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that had put themselves or others in danger ” Texting is one of the most distracting things that can be done while driving. When texting, most people have their eyes off the road for at least five seconds.

Transportation secretary Ray LaHood said, “Over half a million people are said to be injured, and thousands more are killed in distracted driving accidents” (Copeland, 1).Another very effective campaign that will probably soon be known world-wide is “Phone in one hand, Ticket in the other”(Copeland, 1). Most people in todays world would be familiar with the “click it or ticket” phrase that has allowed people to be reminded to put on your seat belt. Just as this campaign reminds people to wear a seat belt the “Phone in one hand, Ticket in the other” is designed to remind drivers that it is far too dangerous to be interacting with your phone while driving (Copeland,

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.

Also stated directly from the NHTSA is that, texting while driving takes driver’s eyes off of the road for an “average of 4.6 seconds” which is equivalent of driving an entire football field blindfolded if you are travelling fifty five miles per hour. Fatalities from texting while driving is the leading cause of death in teenaged drivers, however, forty seven percent of adults admit that they also text while driving. In Professor Hanson’s article, a study indicates that seventy five percent of people agree that there should be restrictions on all ages of people that text while driving, not just teenagers.

Did you know that most wrecks today are caused by distracted drivers? Although, using cell phones are banned while driving, people still use them illegally, causing many wrecks. There are many ways to be considered as a distracted driver, such as texting, using a cell phone, talking to others in the car, grooming, watching a video, adjusting car settings, eating and/or drinking, and reading maps or books. How has texting impacted the number of wrecks in the United States? “The government says that 3,092 people died in one year in “distractions- affected” crashes, a newly refined measurement meant to tally effect of texting, phoning or simply answering a cell while driving.

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).

While there are laws being established to prevent incidents like this, truthfully only the offenders have the ability to change this issue. Text messaging while driving a motorized vehicle is an even bigger temptation for teenagers, thirteen percent of liscensed drivers spanning the ages of eighteen to twenty involved in accidents admit to using their mobile device behind the wheel at the time of impact. Studies show that for the time on the device, drivers have no control or any sight of the road in fron... ... middle of paper ... ...bile devices while driving, other campaigns exist such as T-Mobile's "It Can Wait". Texting while driving puts many lives in danger each and every day. A high percentage of people feel that staying connected with friends and family through social media is far more important than focusing on their surroundings, although it isn’t.

Nearly 333.000 people get injured in accidents each year caused by texting while driving. It takes you approximately five seconds to answer a text, traveling at 55 MPH, that’s enough time to travel the length of a football field.” ("Teens and distracted driving," 2009. Mary Madden & Amanda Lennart). The incentive for Highway Safety states that, “11 teens die every day from texting and driving. In 2013, more than 50% of teenagers admitted to texting while driving and are well known of the outcome that could happen.” (Cellphones and Driving."