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Explain why there are dangers involved in hands-free phone use while driving
Explain why there are dangers involved in hands-free phone use while driving
Explain why there are dangers involved in hands-free phone use while driving
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An analysis of using hands free devices reveals many consequences with drivers: having many mental and physical distractions, and are the number one causes of traffic accidents. Drivers who use hands free devices on the road can be hazards to their surroundings. The distractions involved in using the devices can lead to funnel vision or inattention blindness. Therefore using hands free devices is very dangerous, and can cause consequences to others also. Getting a text message or a phone call may be the most important thing for drivers to receive. People don t want to miss any of those notifications. Hearing ring tones chime gets drivers scrambling to find their phone, or reaching for their headgear, attention already focused on something else. Therefore the driving performances of the driver are altered to them trying to multi-task and not focus on the things around them. “You can literally look at something and not see it. He said “We have seen people being engrossed in a cellphone conversation and run right through a red light and afterwards don’t even remember seeing the red ligh...
Another negative effect that mobile phones impair is mental focus while driving. People who are driving have their minds on the task in front of them with their full attention on the road. So when a person is conversing on a phone their attention is split as he or she is trying to multi-task both talking and driving at the same time. An article written by Nathan Seppa, the cause of “split attention”, he noted that David Strayer a psychology professor and his team studied to understand what impairs drivers when they talk on the phone. They conducted an experiment with drivers to see the effects of how varies distractions compare to each other. Strayer’s team accompanied drivers and assign them different distractive tasks while they maintain their eyes on the road in order to assess the effects. In the team’s findings they found that one most distracting tasks was talking on a mobile phone, which caused a driver’s performance to decline significantly. The typical tasks that drivers should perform on a regular basis, such as observing traffic changes, looking in rear-view mirrors, and watching for pedestrians was reduced overall (Seppa). Not many people can multi-task a conversation and driving at the same time without some drawbacks. Another drawback to a person focus was “unintentional blindness”, described by Simons, as “looking at something and not seeing it” (Seppa). So a person who is talking on a phone can end up not seeing an object whether it is a car, a stop sign or a pedestrian that is right in front of him and her. Many experiments were conducted by professionals to understand how “unintentional blindness” can affect a person’s perception, but one notable professional, Simmons, conducted a test of this concept:
This paper examines the dangers that arise when cell phones are used at the same time as operating a vehicle. The paper will explore the following question of why this is a problem and why the research is important. The variables investigated are the use of cell phones while driving, whether speaking or texting, and the accidents and fatalities caused from the distraction. Data of the accidents and fatalities caused by drivers distracted by their cells phones is stated to research and further explores the age group and gender of the people involved into the accidents to uncover patterns. Possible outcomes of the implementation of laws prohibiting cell phone use while driving are discussed as well as the sampling measures used to survey and research the variables.
Several individuals need to be constantly sending messages to their friends and family members with the use of a cellphone while driving. More and more drivers have the urge to use their cell phones while driving. This dangerous mixture can result to be even deadly. “As one researcher concluded, a cellphone draws attention away from the routines that would provide a good representation of the driving environment” (qtd. in Seppa 3).
According to Stephanie Hanes in the essay “Texting While Driving Is as Dangerous as Drunk Driving,” a driver on a phone and those talking on a phone are four times likely to crash. This statistic shows how dangerous using the phone or even texting is while driving. As technology has increased, so has the use of cellphone. Distracted driving has caused an increase in car fatalities and disasters. However, distracted driving can be prevented if drivers take precautions, but no matter what we do, trouble will always be spelling on the road.
Most people think of someone using their cell phone while driving when they hear distracted driving, but it it much more than that. Distracted driving is when someone who is behind the wheel get distracted by either taking their hands off the wheel or take their mind of driving, which can cause them to get into an accident (paragraph 2). Distracted driving is broken down into three main parts, manual distractions which is taking your hands off the steering wheel, visual distractions which is taking your center of attention off the road and cognitive distraction which is when your mind is not focused on driving and just starts drifting away (paragraph 3). Cell phone use is easily the biggest cause of distracted driving compared to eating, talking, and others because using your cell phone requires visual, manual and cognitive attention from the person behind the wheel and in a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, the amount of people who break the law and use a handheld device behind the wheel increases every single year. An estimated amount of more than, six hundred thousand people use their phone while driving. Distracted driving has quickly risen and developed in the past few years and is becoming an enormous problem. In a recent study, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), showed statistics of approximately three thousand, one hundred fifty
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). With this in mind it is no wonder Distracted driving is a common factor in collisions. This can be understood in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s article, “NHTSA Policy and FAQs on Cellular Phone Use While Driving”. In the article, the NHTSA concedes that “driving distractions, including the use of cell phones, contribute to 25% of all traffic crashes” (NHTSA.gov). The reader should keep in mind that distracted driving is closely related to cell phone
"Understanding the Distracted Brain: Why Driving While Using Hands-Free Cell Phones is Risky Behavior." National Safety Council, 1 Apr. 2012. Web. 1 May 2014. .
With newer vehicles, drivers can listen to phone calls through the car’s stereo and they can make and receive phone calls without ever touching their phones thanks to Bluetooth technology (“Cell Phone Use Distracts Drivers”). Additionally, individuals that do not have access to Bluetooth can use special headsets, which will free up their hands, to talk on the phone. As a result, motorists, who use this, will not be fumbling with their phones or taking their eyes off the road to look at these devices. This fact alone will reduce drivers’ odds of causing an accident and will make the freeways safer for society. However, chatting on the phone can still be distracting enough to cause accidents. Thus, people should try to keep phone conversations in the car to a minimal and should not become too dependent on hands-free
The use of cellphones has become more popular with every passing year, causing many people to become physically and emotionally attached to their cellphones. American society today is constantly on the phone, from texting, to calling, to surfing the web, to even taking pictures; people seem to never put their phones down. Since the use of cells phones is skyrocketing, it has brought up an issue that the use of these devices while behind the wheel increases accidents (Hahn and Preiger par. 1). People don’t realize how distracting a cellphone can really be. Distracted driving is defined as, “driving a vehicle while engaging in an activity that has the potential to distract the driver from the task of driving”(dictionary. reference.com). Almost everyone owns a cellphone today, causing distracted driving to become a big issue (Driven to Distraction par. 1). When a driver is distracted from driving they are unaware of the things happening in their driving environment. Using a cellphone while driving causes drivers to become distracted from driving physically, visually, cognitively and from their auditory senses.
Nearly 1.6 million accidents happen annually because of cell phones. Cell phones can be a major danger to anyone who is using them. People do not realize that they are not only putting their own lives in danger, but they are putting others at risk also. When people are driving they tend to take their eyes off the road, which can cause a distraction and eventually lead to accidents. Cell phones can cause hearing loss. There are many solutions on how to solve texting and driving. Cell phones play a dangerous role in today’s world because they are a major distraction to people who are driving, they cause health problems, however there are solutions to these problems.
To begin, using a handheld cell phone while driving is very distracting. When a person is driving, their full attention should be on the road. If they start using their phone while driving they will not be paying attention and they could wreck. For example, someone could be texting while driving, when all of a sudden a deer jumps in front of them and they are not paying attention so they hit it. Also, occasionally at stoplights people get on their phones and are not watching to see when the light changes. For instance, there is a woman at a stop light while it is reed, so she starts texting, but when it turns green she is not
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% ...
Driver distraction contributes 20 to 30 percent of all road collisions (Dews & Stayer, 2009). Distraction can be explained by the act of competing activity and doing other things in the vehicle. Driver distraction has become worse when there are a lot advanced technologies that easily use even in vehicles. Mobile phone is one of the technologies that have been widely used. Almost everyone all across the globe is using mobile phone as it is considered as necessary item to have and it is affordable as well. Furthermore, it is unquestionable that the growing trend of mobile phones enhances the communication and telecommunication businesses as well as boost personal convenience. Nevertheless, the excessive usage of mobile phones has taken part
One of the dangers of texting while driving at the same time is the attention it takes away from the road. A driver, who is focused on looking at their phone, is not paying enough attention to other cars or what is happening around them. Something as simple as a car stopping in front of them can cause serious damage to the driver and to the other car. “Texting” while driving is the act of composing, sending, or reading text messages, email, or making other similar use of the internet on a mobile device while operating a motor vehicle, such as an automobile, truck, or train (Reuters). Many people and authorities have viewed it as a dangerous practice. It is on occasion like this, where familiarity with the road and surrounding will not make it easier for the driver to look at their cell phone. The probabilities of drivers texting on the cell phone and getting into accidents are only getting higher. Cell phone use while driving accounts for a major cause of
Nevertheless, hands-free phones are just as disturbing as hand held phones. They both serve the same purpose when it comes to distracting the driver from state of the road. Thus, hand held devices do not increase safety, and I have observed this when using the cell phones as I drive. At the same time, I have noticed that my reaction time significantly reduced, and I almost caused an accident. When I look at this slow reaction, I compare it to that of an old...