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The effects of cell phone use while driving
The effects of cell phone use while driving
The effects of cell phone use while driving
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We live in a technology driven time when people multitask behind the wheel. The commute to and from work is a time many like to get caught up on emails or figure out plans for the day or weekend thought texting. The truth is that multitasking behind the wheel is very dangerous and could cost you your life. Text, emails, phone calls, makeup, breakfast; it all can wait! If you don’t make it home alive your weekend plans really won’t matter much anymore. We as a society need to all take responsibility when we are on the road and avoid the many temptations and distractions surrounding us. Distracted driving is dangerous plain and simple. Some may be willing to take the risk because they have never had an accident while behind the wheel. But it’s …show more content…
Many of us have probably seen these accidents in the news or even on the road and many of us are still guilty of texting and driving to spite the dangers. No text is worth your life! So why do people still text and drive and who needs to take responsibility for the problem. Most people know driving drunk is wrong and won’t do it yet they will pull out their cell phone while behind the wheel without even thinking twice about it. Texting and driving can be deadly yet so many of us are guilty of doing it. So who is really responsible for correcting the problem and bringing more public awareness about the dangers of texting behind the …show more content…
Teenagers don’t want to be inconvenient with having to wait to respond to their friends about the latest party or school event that’s coming up. Driving is just as good of time as any to text their best friends about the upcoming weekend or update their Facebook status in the mind of a young adult. Even though most teens know they shouldn’t text and drive many are guilty of doing it several times a day. An overwhelming 75% of teens even admit to text messaging while driving (“Distracted Driving,” 2016). Young drivers are more likely to get into an accident due to lack of experience than that of any other driver on the road. Add in texting to the mix it is a recipe for disaster. About 54% of teenage motor vehicle crash deaths occur on Friday, Saturday or Sunday – with Saturday being the deadliest day of the week for teens (Hosansky, 2012). Teenage motor vehicle fatalities are at the highest in the summer months. In some states there are no laws passed to make texting behind the wheel illegal and in others the fine is as little as $75. It saddens me that someone’s life can be worth as little as $75 and saving a little time each day. So if our lawmakers don’t see a real problem and our teens don’t want to recognize the risk, who else can take responsibility for this huge
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. Drivers think that they are perceived of everything while driving in a neighborhood, and no fiasco can happened. Some drivers are not perceive that young pedestrians (children) cross the streets without any reprimand, and if a driver at the moment is distracted a fiasco can occur. All distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety. Another way death can occur is in the expressway where millions of cars are driving through the expressway in a high speed lim...
In today’s day and age, there are so many excuses for distracted driving. Lives are put at risk every time a distracted motorist is on the road, and deaths have increased by a substantial amount in the last ten years. On Thursday, April 26th, 2014, one woman’s bad judgement cost her life (Hastings, 1). Not only was she affected, but her friends and family assuredly felt a pain in their hearts. In the few seconds it took Courtney Ann Sanford to post a few words on Facebook, it was enough to distract her from the road and to drive across another lane and through a median straight into a truck (Hastings, 1).
There are approximately 5,400 deaths per year that are linked to distracted driving, and thousands more were injured. (U.S. Department of Labor). Those fatalities are our neighbors, close friends, and even family. How can we prevent this from being so prominent? How can we make the roads a safe place to be again? These questions have many different answers, but many prove to be un-effective. I believe that the best and only way to resolve this issue is to implement tougher laws on cell-phone use in vehicles, and educate our youth to the best of our abilities on the dangers of distracted 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.
Even if a driver reads the statistics of texting while driving, he or she will find a way to justify doing so. 77% of young adults are very or somewhat confident that they can safely text while driving and 55% of young drivers say that it’s easy to text while driving (“DWI” 1). These statistics are heartbreaking and unfortunate, because so many drivers don’t value the lives of passengers in their car or drivers on the road. While these teens may seem confident, it is still a dangerous problem. Since studies show that 10% of their driving time is spent outside of their lane (“DWI”
This is also why I think they should just ban all use of cell phones. “13% of drivers age 18-20 involved in car wrecks admitted to texting or talking on the phone at the time of the crash. 34% of teens say they have texted while behind the wheel of the car, 82% of Americans age 16-17 own a cell phone. 52% say they have talked on the phone while driving.” (Texting ad driving Blog) These numbers could be reduced if we applied the changes I have stated to the
...fine. The sanctions rise for successive offenses as well, with the second violation calling for an amount in the region of $250 fine and the third and subsequent violations carrying $500 fines each. Violators are also disciplined ruthlessly if their actions result to an accident (Chretien n.p.). Some other states, such as California and Virginia have fines of $20 for breaking their texting while driving laws (“Texting While Driving Legislation”). Imposing only a fine of such low monetary value does not properly bear the significance of the crime or work strongly enough to discourage drivers from doing away with their phones putting their phones while driving. To unify evenly, the law should be enforced to deter texting while driving. The punishment for contravening the law should be constant throughout the country. The model used by Massachusetts should be embraced.
Even though texting and driving is against the law, men and women of all ages are doing it on a regular basis. Statistically speaking, 23% of car accidents, which was about 1.3 million, involved cell phones in 2011 (“Texting and Driving..”). According to Edgar Snyder and Associates Law Firm out of Western Pennsylvania, “In 2011, 3,331 people were killed and 387,000 people were injured in accidents involving a distracted driver.” Along with those stats, and according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, “texting and driving kills 11 teens each day” (“Texting and Cell Phone..”). These numbers show how fatally dangerous texting and driving can be. As mentioned earlier, it is illegal, so humans shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. However, if someone gets caught, they could be looking at a ticket costing about, 135 dollars, not including the additional base fine, surcharge and the law library fee (“Texting and Driving, Challenges..”). If a person chooses to text and drive and...
Imagine driving and all of a sudden someone getting a text that they want to reply to just at the wrong time when they pass by a police. That police has the right to pull them over for breaking the law. One California policeman said that himself, along with the U.S. Department of Transportation, “issued more than 10,700 tickets for texting on a cell phone while driving in 2012” (Giancola). For a law that is capable of being followed, people just don’t seem to get it since so many other people are doing it, and getting ticketed at the least for about $135.00 in Minnesota. Furthermore, this distracted action is considered to be breaking the law, and breaking the law is just plain out wrong. According to the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) study, 73% of teens admit to texting or being on the phone while driving and most of them admitted that they know it is the wrong thing to do (Hanes). No one SHOULD be breaking the law even when sometimes it is easy to break. Especially the ones you can get away with most of the time like texting while driving. People should learn how to police themselves and realize that this law is in place for someone’s benefit and for the safety of all civilians. Teens and adults need to know that with a lawless society life would be chaotic, so having just this one law in place is good for having a safe and accident free
According to Ian Mulgrew, a journalist/author from Canada, many accidents are blamed on distracted driving and most of the distractions are caused by cell phone usage (Mulgrew). This shows that accidents are being caused by texting and driving. A majority of people have busy lives that leaves them to get things done while on the road. Texting or using a cell phone while driving is very hazardous to yourself and the people surrounding you. Most people are against this action is because it causes many car accidents every year. Did you know that texting while driving is one of the longest eyes-off-the road time of distracted driving activities? According to DWI, text messaging makes a crash up to 23 times more likely. While other activities like, dialing, talking or listening or reaching for a device is less likely. While driving, adults and teenagers cannot resist the urge to pick up their cell phone and send a text or respond to one. When a
Across the country news papers from local news stories to national media are a buzz with broadcasts about the rise in texting while driving accidents. This increased activity has caused local and state governments to begin discussions on how they can address the latest epidemic.
Thousands of people lose their loved one’s lives or their own lives each year due to car accidents because of this growing issue. Many know about it and the consequences it has, but still do it. This activity, done without driving, can be enjoyed between friends, can past time, and millions do it every day. However, this activity isn’t drinking. It is texting and accounts for 1,600,000 accidents per year. Yet, the reparations for texting and driving are far less than those of drinking and driving. The laws set place don’t deter young drivers from participating in the dangerous activity while driving. Legislature, however, has a tough making new and stricter laws to prevent these accidents because of the sensitivity of the issue. Many fear legislature will cross the line between public safety and restricting the first amendment right of free
In 2015 alone, 218 of our fellow citizens died in car crashes (“Texting while driving is costing us all”). Car crashes have become part of our reality. Majority of our car crashes comes from being on a phone, tablet, or even an iPad or being distracted in some sort of way while driving, most likely texting. Texting and driving increases the risk of killing people and can cause insurance rates to increase significantly.
(Texting and Driving Safety). 1 out of every 4 accidents in the US are caused because of it, and it leads to 1.6 million crashes each year (Texting and Driving Safety). These statistics show that texting and driving is a serious issue. Traveling at 55 mph and you take your eyes off of the road for two seconds, you are driving an equivalent length to a football field with your eyes off of the road (Texting and Driving Safety). Adults and children even text and drive past schools! If the parent of those children saw someone texting and driving in an area where their kid was, all hell would break loose. That parent would chasing you down and would freak out for putting their kid in danger. If any of us were parents, it would be the same reaction if someone was putting children in danger. It is well-known that many high school students text and drives often, although not all the time. One time he had a really important text to make to his father about his grandpa. He did not put anyone in danger by doing it, but anything can happen and anything can pop out in front of your car at any given time. Yes, the text may have been an emergency, but it still should not have been sent while operating the
But these accidents still happen so that means there needs to be more action taken upon this problem. Even after all the laws made on this issue, there are still 330,000 injuries because of texting. Others may argue that there are enough or too many laws made about this topic but if that was the case lives wouldn’t be taken every day. Drivers are still able to find a way to use their phones without getting caught. Not only should there be stricter laws there should be a camera at different lights to catch those who are texting. Laws already prevent so many crashes but the main goal is to prevent all crashes from happening. Even we can get it down to a couple crashes per year. That may seem like a hard goal to reach but even trying to reach somewhere close to that goal. In order to prevent hundreds of deaths every year, we need to take this type of