In today’s news, it’s not uncommon for accidents to be the top story. In fact with today’s population, over 37,000 people die in road crashes each year with an estimated amount of 1.2 million crashes each year that involved drivers using cell phones for conversations. Unless action is taken, road traffic injuries are predicted to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030. With the big population of people that cover our world today, it is not uncommon to see drivers swerving in their lanes or barely dodging a pedestrian because they are not focused. To be exact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that “more than 15 people are killed and more than 1,200 people are injured in crashes that were reported to involve a distracted driver”. Victims of these preventable car accidents sustained some minor injuries but others suffer from permanent damage, or even die. My claim is that distracted driving is claiming the lives of more pedestrians and cyclists. I think that the law banning texting while driving is a great idea. Drivers that continuingly text or use their phone while driving are still putting those around them at risk. Yet people still continue to assume that people have the ability to drive and text or The U.S. Department of Transportation is trying to stop texting and cell phone use behind the wheel because of distractions. The three main types of distractions are visual, manual and cognitive. Visual is physically taking your eyes off the road. Manual is physically taking your hands off the wheel. Cognitive is taking your mind off the road. talk. Some kids and adults do get away with it, but there are many more that do not. The U.S. government created a website called Distraction.gov, to addres... ... middle of paper ... ... (Texting while driving) They also stated that a number of safeguards for using communication systems safely are a matter of company policy and should not be legislated. Texting has also been blamed for all types of accidents like subway and train accidents. In September 2008, twenty-five people were. The problem with banning cellphones is that people have the addiction and if you ban it, people will still do it. They will just hide it which then causes more accidents. Driving with distractions can be extremely dangerous, and driving safely is something more people should just do. Texting while driving distracts drivers and make it so they are unaware of their surroundings. Texting while driving takes a drivers attention off of the road for a couple of seconds. In those seconds, the texted could drive off of the road and hit a child. Let’s stop driving and texting.
Over the past two decades the use of cell phones has grown significantly and statistic from the past two years have proven that driving while on the phone or texting is becoming one of the leading causes of traffic accidents today. In 2011, a survey of more than 2800 American adults revealed that even thought they know that using a cell phone or texting while driving is distracting, they do it anyway, and teens surveyed admit that texting while driving is their number one distraction. "Each year, 21% of fatal car crashes involving teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 were the result of cell phone usage. This result has been expected to grow as much as 4% ...
Phones use while driving is one of the worst habits to have. Drivers who text while driving are twice as likely to crash than some who is drinking and driving (New Approaches to End Texting While Driving). Teenagers believe they are the best drivers and can multitask while driving. In order to text while driving you have to be looking at your phone. If you are looking phone you are not taking precaution to what in front of you. People think looking down for one second will not hurt. In one second anything could happen such as hitting someone or even running off the road. Other people ar...
The Harvard Center of Risk Analysis preformed a study, they studied the road and people who text while they drive. Results show that texting behind the wheel causes 330,000 injuries and 2,600 deaths a year. People who talk or text on the phone are just as impaired or even more impaired as a drunk driver. A study was performed at the University of Utah, it shows that the participants crashed when they were texting while driving but when they were intoxicated, they did not crash. This shows that texting while driving takes your focus off of the road and into the conversation you are having on the phone. Also, the University of Utah has proven that hand free devices do not make driving any safer. But, driving with passengers and talking to them makes drivers safer. Passengers help inform drivers of possible risks on the
Texting and Driving has been a huge factor in accidents. More and more cities are starting to make cell phone use illegal to prevent many life threatening accidents. A phone call and text message can wait. You never know as drivers what the people are doing around you are doing unless you are watching your surroundings. The driver might be a really good driver and might be paying some attention to the road while you are on your phone but the road needs all of the drivers attention so that prevention of accidents is at its
Texting while driving is no joking matter. Who is going to be the one who takes an innocent life because of that one text? Research has shown that texting while driving is not only dangerous but is the number one thing that has and is killing people today. There should be no texting while driving from any age group, young or old. The three main reasons why people shouldn’t text and drive are that many people get hurt or killed, society’s negative feelings about this problem and what can be done to prevent this crime.
Studies also show drunk driving is actually statistically safer than texting and driving. In my observation as my family was traveling to Wisconsin, I put tallies on my notebook to record the results of passing drivers. The results were surprising in that 1 out of 8 kids and 1 out of 5 adults in passing cars were distracted while driving. These statistics are actually scary to me because I will never know which one will make a mistake when I am around them on the road. The negative effects this problem causes death and serious injury to themselves and others. It also effects the distracted drivers by placing others around them in harm. As more people text on the roads the drivers will get too familiar texting and driving. According to most statistics, that’s when most mistakes happen. Phone and car companies allow this behavior to happen simultaneously. Phone companies are making their product easier to be distracted, as the technology is addicting to use for the consumers. The notifications from the phone distract most humans from accomplishing their tasks. The phone pings or sounds and the driver looks down. Car companies are now installing Wi-Fi in the newest cars of our generation. The WI-FI is active for all passengers. The distraction element is also active for
The ability to drive is one of the greatest privileges anyone is allowed to receive, and should not be taken for granted. Many people though do not take this into consideration, and will often fail to realize that their doing something wrong when they are driving. Texting while driving is one of the most common mistakes people do while driving, and is most responsible for many car collisions, and deaths. Over the years many people are now using their phones while driving, and many of those people are teenagers, that are just starting off driving.
One day Chandler Gerber 23, of Bluffton collided with an Amish buggy back in April of 2012. A three year old boy and a five year old girl were killed. A 17 year old boy who was in critical condition died several days later. Chandler was sending a text that said “ I love you” to his wife when he caused the accident. Drivers who were texting were 23.2 times more likely to crash to those who weren’t texting (Cell Phones and Texting). The increasing amount of crashes caused from texting and driving and growing and becoming more of a problem. Distracted driving is an increasing problem in the United States resulting in many accidents, but a solution to the problem would be banning cellphones while driving.
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
Texting while driving has been on the rise in the recent years, and we’ve all heard the sad and tragic consequences of the using a cell phone while driving. Many states have passed laws regarding the use of cell phones while driving and requiring the use of a hands-free device in your car. Some states have overwhelming fines per offense but some are just a minimal fee. Here’s the facts and figures of the effects of texting while driving.
Texting and driving involves all three types so you can predict the outcome isn’t too much in our favor (Distracted Driving, 2015). According to the National Safety Council (NDC), the big myth today is that people are capable of multitasking, and even worse multitask while driving, but in fact, the human brain cannot do such a thing. People may be walking and chewing gum at the same time, but that is because those actions involve both a thinking task, and a non-thinking task. Driving and talking on the phone at the same time is risky though because it requires both to be used. Instead of attending to both actions simultaneously, the brain quickly shifts between two cognitive activities (The Great Multitasking, 2010). Taken from a new report from the NSC ,drivers that tend to talk on cell phones often enter a state of what is called “inattention blindness” and when this occurs, they may fail to see up to 50 percent of what is ahead of them (NSC Looks Inside, 2010). The United States Department of Transportation says, "text messaging while driving creates a crash risk 23 times higher than driving while not distracted,” (Distracted Driving, 2015). That makes driving
Distracted driving is an issue that needs to be addressed. “When drivers who had an accident or near-accident due to distracted driving were asked, many said they would repeat the hazardous behavior” (Brody). Many states have enacted texting bans, but that does not seem to be enough. In survey conducted by AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 67 percent of drivers surveyed admitted to talking on the phone while driving and 21 percent had been texted (Richtel). One solution might be to require drivers to stow devices such as cell phones. If driver seen with access to a distracting device a citation should be issue. When people are reprimanded with monetary losses, they tend to change their behavior. Multiple offenders should be subject to the loss of their driving privileges similar speeders. Common sense, with distraction laws, should come into play. It would seem arbitrary to give drivers tickets if their passengers were using any such devices like cell phones. If distracted driving laws existed, insurance compa...
Some people argue that just as many car accidents would happen if the use of cell phones were not involved. According to Shows Cellphone Use, “Using a cellphone while driving may be distracting, but it does not lead to higher crash risks.” It is hard to miss the number of drivers with phones glued to their hands. As they dangerously multitask while driving around other vehicles and pedestrians. Those who decide to use their phones are simultaneously contributing to a lack of visual, manual, and cognitive attention a driver needs to remain focused (Injury Prevention, 2015). With the potential of crashing being 23 times greater than the risk posed by drunk driving (No Texting, 2015). With statistical information providing a connection between distracted drivers and increased accidents, it is hard to believe there are some who feel it is not
Texting while driving is referred to as distracted driving. "Distracted driving continues to be the number one leading cause of car accidents in America. Talking on the phone, texting, eating, reading, grooming, and talking are just some of the ways drivers get distracted behind the wheel. Drivers who use a hand-held device are 4 times more likely to get into a car accident than drivers that pay attention to the road ahead. Individuals who text message while driving are 23 times more likely to get into an accident. Do not risk your safety or your life. Put everything down and pay attention to the road ahead. It is the single most important thing you can do today to reduce your risk of getting into a
Janet Froetscher who is on the National Safety Council stated, “We know that at least 1.6 million car crashes involve drivers using cell phones and texting.” This high number of accidents breaks down to 11 deaths of just teenagers a day. Texting while driving should be made illegal to save lives. Mike Dudzinski a current fire captain of Peoria, Arizona stated in an interview that in just a year he experiences about 100 deaths with texting being the cause. Texting while driving is a wide controversy that needs to be made as a law in order to protect lives.