Liz Marks was a typical seventeen year old student, two weeks short of her 18th birthday. Liz was a ordinary high school student who enjoyed going to high school basketball and football games, bowling with friends, going to parties and modeling on the side. Liz was addicted to her cell phone, she felt like she needed it at all times or she would feel disconnected from the world and felt lonely without it. Her mother, Betty Shaw, would constantly remind her not to text and drive but Liz has admitted to ignoring the warnings of texting and driving because she notice other people do it and she thought getting into an accident would never happen to her. On April 7th, 2012, Liz Marks got into an extremely dangerous accident caused by distracted …show more content…
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 isn’t 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 four people and a little less that half a million were injured in fatal car crashes (Paragraph 5). Most people understand most of the dangers and consequences of distracted driving but a big question is why do people still do it? There are many reasons why people still use their cell phone while driving, the main reason that applies to most people is they think getting into a fatal car accident will not happen to them (paragraph 3). That’s why distracted driving must be stopped immediately because
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% ...
Texting while driving is national growing trend, and it is quickly becoming one of the country’s top killers. Most drivers think they can manage to text and drive and still stay safe on the roads; however, the numbers do not lie! According to the National Safety Council, 1,600,000 accidents per year are caused by someone who was texting and driving. Laws and penalties for this act are too lax, and tougher laws should be enforced.
It’s a Friday afternoon and you’re driving to the grocery store after work to pick up a pizza to eat later for dinner. All of your weekend plans are on your mind as you make a right turn. You hear your phone go off and quickly unlock your phone to see what plans are happening tonight. Little do you know you won’t have any plans for this weekend because the text you are about to send will end your life. This might sound harsh but this is exactly how all texting and driving stories go. Texting while driving causes a huge 1,600,000 accidents per year (Distracted Driving), and 11 teens die every day from these accidents. It’s highly likely that while you read this paper someone just got into an accident
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.
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
Miller an eighteen-year-old who veered into oncoming traffic and hit another car head-on while she was texting. She and the other driver, a 40-year-old mother of one, were killed instantly. Not only do these teens texting and driving kill and endanger themselves they are hazardous to other pedestrians who drive safely and responsibly.
“Nearly four years ago, Ashley Zumbrunnen 's life was forever changed in the blink of an eye. She was partially paralyzed in a car accident. The reason? She was texting while driving” (7 KTVB.COM). Do you think texting while driving is worth it? I do not think a text is worth a life, if I was her I would have waited to text my husband. Here story goes as follows “I was on my way on my way to work, said Zumbrunnen about the morning of the crash. I took out my cell phone, and I wanted to say 'I love you, have a good day ' to my husband” (7 KTVB.COM). She could have waited to text her husband but instead she decided to send a cute message to her husband causing the following “while typing a text message, she crossed Highway 55 into oncoming traffic. I over-corrected, I lost control of my vehicle, said Zumbrunnen. I felt like I was in a washing machine. Then all of a sudden, I flipped and flew in the air. I felt my body flying in the air” (7 KTVB.COM). Just by watching her video online and hearing her tell us her story makes me want to cry, it is such a sad story that texting and driving can change someone’s life. Who would have ever thought that in a blink of an eye you can go paralyzed or even die for doing such little thing?
Imagine running three football fields with your eyes closed. Now imagine driving 75 miles per hour on the interstate and closing your eyes for the length of approximately three football fields, or 4.6 seconds. This is effectively what happens when people text and drive. Texting and driving is a serious problem in the US and is resulting in too many deaths and accidents.
The problem I am addressing today is that the privilege to operate a motor vehicle is being recklessly abused by the people of our society. America today as we all should know has an unhealthy obsession with the use of technology, more so their cell phones. People drive distracted every day and it is nothing to just brush aside. . There are many facts and statistics on how this is a critical subject of matter. Whether you think it is a big deal or not, you should consider the consequences. The common age group being found related to distracted driving crashes are said to be around 24 years and younger. More so because of so many newly and unexperienced teenage drivers. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study
“Hey guys look no hands”, is not something a family member or a friend never wants to hear from a friend or a loved one in a text message especially while that person is driving. The use of a cellphone is considered a necessity now a day among drivers that are currently on the road. People have to be socially connected with their friends all the time.
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.
Texting while driving is a widespread epidemic in the United States that has unfavorable effects on our society.“Driving while texting is the standard wording used for traffic violations” (Bernstein). It causes many people to be distracted which can lead to accidents. “Eighty-nine percent of people own a cell phone” (Gardner). That is a plethora of people that are at risk of texting while driving. Also, texting has increased by ten times in three years(Bernstein). “The risk of a crash for those who are texting is twenty-three point two times greater than those who are not” (Gardner).Driving drunk only makes a person seven times more likely to be in a crash (Bernstein). This means texting while driving is three times more dangerous than driving intoxicated. One in five drivers admits to texting while driving(Gardner). 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). Also, only 1 out of 3 US cars sold in 2009 had this feature. New systems are being developed that will use Bluetooth as well a global positioning technology to allow parents to monitor cell phone use and texting while driving (10).
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
Fifty percent of teen drivers have admitted to frequently using their phones while driving; twenty percent of people have said they browse the web while driving, causing eighteen percent of these accidents to result in fatal injuries. In 2013 alone 424,000 people were injured in a driving accident where the driver was texting and not paying attention to their surroundings. People are constantly on their phones, never being able to put them away which leads them to text and drive, therefore making the roads unsafe and putting everybody else on the road safety in jeopardy.
A man from California says his daughter has sent more than three hundred texts a day while at school.(17). “ My attention span is getting worse…” (Young and strong unable to concentrate 1). A driver, seventeen years old, lost control of his car while texting hitting a bicyclists who two days later died due to the accident (Cell Phone Distraction 3).