From the foregoing statements, this essay seeks to support the laws, which outlaws texting while driving by highlighting how dangerous it is for drivers to massage while driving. Car crashes due to texting while driving is a widespread epidemic that has taken our nation by storm for more than a decade ago. People may think they can safely write text messages on their phone while driving, or just do not think there is any real risk in the act does not matter. Texting while driving must be done away with at all costs. To achieve this fit, our government must take action by adding uniformity to the laws and impose punishments on the offenders.
Distracted drivers in Illinois don’t perceive the dangerous of taking their eyes of the road. Distracted driving in Illinois is so dangerous because it takes a drivers attention away from the primary task of driving. One text message or Email is a distraction for a driver because their probably texting someone at the moment or are expecting a text from someone, and are eager to read the text message. “Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration tell that When texting, drivers took their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds” (Opposing Viewpoints). Talking your eyes of the road even for a minute is extremely dangerous, a fiasco can happen even if you’re driving around the neighborhood.
Texting while driving is a serious danger not only to the driver but others alongside them on the road as well. It is vital for the state of Iowa to instate a law banning texting while driving even though it could seem difficult to enforce, because the risks it causes outweigh the need/want of convenience and cause the chances of crashing to increase significantly. Texting while driving leaves less than half of a persons attention on the road and puts not only the driver’s life at risk, but passengers and other drivers as well. The brain cannot handle the overload of responsibilities and information when a person tries to text and drive at the same time. If a person's eyes are on their phone, the activity from the part of their brain which will focus on driving straight and staying in the lane will decrease by more than one fourth ("Driving").
In the state of California, people do a lot texting but they have lower accident rates than other states. One more thing, even if the government makes a law to ban texting, still the car accident rate doesn’t drop (“Texting”). First of all, texting is not really good for anybody. If the driver is texting while driving then he or she puts themselves at risk. It is very dangerous for everybody.
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.
While this number tends to sound extreme, knowing 6,000 lives could have been saved if only drivers would have taken seriously the dangers of driving while distracted. While a person may believe they can multitask while driving and not be in any danger, they are clearly mistaken. Phil LeBeau, a CNBC auto and airline industry reporter based at the network's Chicago bureau, discusses the terrible habit American drivers have developed in his story “Texting and Driving Worse than Drinking and Driving.” With the help of Car and Driver Magazine, LeBeau was able to see firsthand at how dangerous driving while distracted is. LeBeau took a driving test created to see how emailing or texting slows down a person’s reaction time. LeBeau states, “On average, it took me four times longer to hit the brake [while being distracted and driving]” (1).
Many states recognize the immense threat resulting from texting and driving and have placed a ban on this epidemic. While many people realize texting and driving is hazardous others believe that the ban is useless and not strong enough of a solution. 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
Texting while driving has brought a lot of attention to state and local representatives due to an increase in accidents caused by distracted drivers. That’s why the organization Auto Alliance Driving Innovation created a poster saying “OMG! Get the message. Texting while driving is a deadly distraction”. The picture has a cracked glass with smeared blood on the side of it.
People are often seen looking down, or talking on the phone and not paying attention to the road when they are driving. This will often lead to accidents because they are not paying attention. As Mentioned previously, “The National Safety Council (NSC) states cell phones result in 1.6 million traffic accidents annually”. (Knoxville News-Sentinel). Cell phones are a major cause of accidents in the world because they cause people to lose focus on the road.
Retrieved from http://www.texting-while-driving.org Distracted Drivers. 2013 What is Maine’s Law on…?. Retrieved from http://www.maine.gov-/legis/lawlib/whatis.htm#distdriver