As a young teenager gets in her car to go meet her friend at the local mall, she brings the usual. Purse, license, makeup, money, special toiletries, gum, and her phone. She steps into her car after unlocking it. She pulls out of the driveway and starts to head out of the neighborhood. She turns her radio to get excited and pumped for the hangout with her friend, of course. She turns onto the main roads to get to the mall when she remembered that she was going to text her friend that she was on the way. She looks away from the road and picks up her phone and begins to text "Hey girl, I 'm on m--" She is unable to finish her text message due to the fact she had an automobile accident. Texting while driving can be extremely dangerous and …show more content…
Educating teenagers is an excellent start to put an end to texting and driving. One of the ways to educate them is to have classes and teach them to understand the risks. Digital Responsibility by Liz Soltan is an online article along with a mission to put a stop to the abuse of technology that threatens the safety of others. Some facts in this article can be an awesome teaching method. Liz writes:
If you are driving at 55 mph and take your eyes off the road for the average amount of time it takes to text, five seconds, you will have zoomed the length of a football field without looking at the road. (VTTI, 2009)
This fact is scary when you contemplate it, let alone observe someone act out on it. The length of a football field is a very long distance to be driving. You can even imagine the scale of that distance while also picturing a texting
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For example, the common human ("A") plans to go to an event and urgently needs to let a attendee of said event ("B") know that "A" is on the way. "A" can text "B", before getting in the car to drive, that they are on the way; I 'm getting in the car right now. "A" can even ask to not text them until the arrival. Simple, no accident and no casualties. In addition, if texts have to be made while on the go, the best and safest action to take is to slowly pull over to the side of the road and park the car. This way, "A" can text "B" any information in a safe way that destroys the risk of a car
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 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
We’ve all heard the saying, “Don’t text while driving,” but we never truly understand how important those words may be. The Secret Language of Sisters, by Luanne Rice, shows how texting may lead to a near death experience. Tilly sends a simple text, Where are you?, to her sister, Roo. Little did she know that the simple text would change her sister’s life forever.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Fatality states that texting while driving causes nearly eleven teen deaths every day and 330,000 injuries per year. Almost 25 percent of all car accidents involve someone who was texting as they were driving; that is 1.3 million crashes. Texting while driving is the number one distraction for majority of drivers. Five seconds is the minimal amount of time a driver’s attention is taken from the road while using a cell phone. With that being said, if one is traveling at 55mph, five seconds is equal to driving the length of a football field without paying attention to the road.
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.
Two minutes before the crash was reported, her phone was used to send a text greeting to a friend. All four girls died at the scene with no survivors. These horrific stories are not isolated incidents but an overwhelming and demoralizing incidents created by texting while
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
So just how dangerous can texting while driving actually be? According to Monash University, “those drivers who use handheld devices while driving are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves” (qtd. in Wilson 1). This is not good because there are thousands of divers that are on the road at any given time. University of Utah reports, “Using a cell phone while driving, whether it’s handheld or hands-free, delays the driver’s reaction as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of 0.08%” (qtd. in Wilson 1). With more drivers out there that lead to the possibility that a crash could happen “The time it takes to is an average of 4.6 seconds, would be equal to traveling the length of a football field at 55mph visionless.” (Wilson 1). Carnegie Mellon reports, “that with the use of a mobile cellphone reduces the amount of brain activity by associated with driving by 37%” (qtd. in Wilson 1). The Nation...
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.
One of the major cell phone companies AT&T, has had enormous success in launching its “It Can Wait” campaign.AT&T is using its campaign to show ttenagers the damaging effects of texting and driving and what it can do to everyone around. Texting and driving should be tied into the school systems learning guidelines as most teenagers think that texting and driving is not as big of a deal as it seems to be. In a study done by() results showed that thirteen percent of drivers age eighteen to twenty involved in car accidents admitted to being on their phones at the time of the crash. And seventy seven percent of teenagers say they are somewhat confident in that they can text and drive safely. This should be a a major eye opener to all members of society. The new generation has very little real world experience in how texting and driving can really affect them and their
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
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).
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
An Adesman stated that, “A person who is texting can be as impaired as a driver who is legally drunk.” A car traveling at 55mph covers the length of a football field in five seconds. The average person who sends out text messages while driving spends on average about eight seconds of looking down at their phone. Approximately 10% of driving time is spent outside of their original lane, by drifting while texting. “There's a difference between driving and texting. When you’re driving your eyes have to be open and on the road watching the cars around you, road signs, and traffic lights. Along with your mind on the road and destination. Which means you are multitasking. When your texting your eyes are on your cell phone screen and key pad. Along with your mind on what you’re going to say next. So how can you do both?” This quote was written by Johnathan Anthony Burkett who wrote the story Neglected but Undefeated. The chances of getting into a car crash are increased four times more than those who are not distracted. Texting while driving involves manual, visual, and the mental ability of a driver which makes messaging while driving one of the worst distractions.
Texting while driving has become a known danger nowadays, but not very many people know that texting while walking can be unsafe as well.... ... middle of paper ... ... A. “Mobile Phones and Society-How Being Constantly Connected Impacts Our Lives.”