Argument Against Distracted Walking

Distracted driving; most of us are guilty of it without even knowing it. Distracted driving is doing anything else unrelated to driving while behind the wheel. This could include: using a cell phone, changing the radio station, eating food, and even having a conversation. The most distracting of them all is using a cell phone because it requires the user to manually input information. The laws surrounding texting while driving are far too lenient when compared to laws on drunk driving, yet both can end in a car crash. People texting while driving should face steeper penalties than what is already in place because they are a danger to anyone around them. The small fines are not enough to deter people. While banning cell phones from being allowed in vehicles is not an effective approach to the problem, stricter laws should be put in place to make the roads a safer place. Texting while driving penalties should be treated with a similar severity that DUI charges are. The penalties for texting and driving need to be increased because it would make the roads safer, increase the government’s revenue, and help solve the problem of texting while driving.

People think it is illegal to text and walk because they will walk into the road without even looking and that could distract the driver also and make them wreck into something else.For example in the artical pedestrian fatalities it says "A report released today by the governors highway safety Association shows that the number of pedestrians killed in traffic jumped to 11 percent last year, to nearly 6,000."As you can see they number of fatalities have raised more than ever.

People who text and drive can hit or even kill pedestrians because of being distracted by their phones and not paying attention to the road. In the course of five years, the national number of pedestrians who were killed or hit by distracted drivers increased from 344 to 500 people. If you think about it, many of those people who died could have been young children or elderly people who didn’t have a fault, but because of someone being so inconsiderate using their phone, they killed these people. In 2015, 5,376 pedestrians were killed because of drivers who were too busy texting. All those pedestrians who were killed did not think that because of walking somewhere they would be killed by someone so distracted who didn’t have the capacity to make sure that the road was clear for them to keep driving. If this problem had further consequences, then many of the people who died wouldn’t be dead right now.

State laws and policies on the ban of texting and driving are important to society because they prevent distracted driving, reduce the number of accidents that could result in death, and lessen the costs associated with accidents.

First of all texting while driving is a dangerous and risky thing to do in our society. Texting while driving is illegal in almost all states. People are realizing how dangerous it can be and making it illegal. In an article called distracted driving only two states, Arizona and Montana had no bans on cell phones while driving and only one state had a partial ban which was Missouri. Everybody else had a full ban on texting and driving. In an article called 10 Programmatic Reasons that will make you stop texting and driving today, it said “As the correlation between auto accidents and texting while driving escalates, many municipalities and states are passing legislation making it illegal to text and drive.” This basically is explaining how texting while driving is becoming illegal in almost every state. The punishment for the first couple of times will just be a $100 fine but will increase if you're a repeat offender.. But do you really want to spend $100 on a fine when you could spend it on a new pair of shoes or your kid? Texting while driving is illegal and you can be fined.

Texting and driving was banned in 2011 in Indiana because of the overabundance of car accidents that involved cell phones and distracted driving. With this law in place, people thought that it would work and that people would stop using them while driving. This was not the case, however. In Indiana with the texting and driving ban there have only been, “fewer than 400 tickets written as of mid-2014” (Gormley 89). This is not surprising because cell phones are so modest that they are easily missed when police drive by cars. Texting and driving bans are used to better driving accidents, but are not always used to their full extent. On page 89 of "Indiana's Texting-While-Driving Ban: Why Is It Not Working and How Could It Be Better?", Gormley stated, “As it stands today, Indiana’s texting while driving statute contains gaping loopholes, which leave drivers free to engage in risky behaviors with little fear of legal repercussions” (Gormley 89). A loophole they have to get around are actually being able to see the driver texting while driving. Texting and driving bans are newer and do not have all the kinks worked out, but if more states begin using them they will become better used. Putting more of these bans into use will be able to work on all the kinks and better them to use to be more effective and save more lives.

In the short essay “Stricter Texting While Driving Laws”, Brittany Mcdaniel writes about how there needs to be better laws regarding texting while driving. Brittany believes that the laws put in place right now are not effective at all and have no impact on people.

It’s time to stop texting while driving. Most of the accidents are accused of distracted driving and most of the distractions are most of the time caused by cell phones. However, some opponents feel that creating a law against cell phone use infringes their personal rights. Other people assume that prohibiting from someone from using their cell phone is the same thing in just like telling someone that they can't adjust their radio or chat with someone else in the car. However, using a cell phone, whether you are texting or talking, while driving can be extremely dangerous; That should be made illegal in the fact that it is very hazardous to

It is sad to think that people cannot wait to text their friends back and they have to do it during driving on the roads.

California has recently made stricter rules about distracted driving, but because the consequences are not significant people will not take the law seriously. In the new law, drivers are not allowed to hold any hand held devices while driving. If a driver wishes to use their phone for directions or music they must mount it to the dashboard or windshield. If pulled over for breaking this law, the driver will get a ticket with a twenty dollar fee. Even though 97% of people will agree that distracted driving is dangerous, almost 50% of them will still break this law to answer a text or call. In order to keep people concentrated while driving they must be educated and understand how dangerous what they are doing really is. A law may or may not stop them from texting while driving but the statistics do not lie and if drivers are educated about these laws it may save their life.

Have you ever wondered if texting and walking is dangerous? The text “ Would You Ban Texting and walking? ” by Kristin Lewis, describes how many teens got injured by using their phones while walking. She also writes about many different examples of how it was unsafe, as well as, how it is common sense to known when you should or should not use your phone. I think texting and walking should be banned because it will save a lot of lives in the future.

Texting while driving is a controversial subject. The vast majority of people feel that texting while driving should be illegal. Most people also feel that legal actions need to take place to stop this behavior. However, I’m part of the small majority that disagrees with the main point of view. I believe that texting while driving shouldn’t be illegal and that states that have made it illegal need to repeal those laws. Texting while driving isn’t the true problem. The true problem is that people get distracted easily. So I believe that making texting while driving illegal doesn’t even solve the problem. Another reason why it shouldn’t be illegal is that people don’t follow laws as it is, and this can cause even more problems. Texting while driving should be the driver’s choice, not the government's choice.

The second reason of why texting while driving should be made illegal is that it is as dangerous, or even more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol. In a research study it has been proven that even with a hands-free device, talking on a phone can impair driving skills more than driving under the influence of alcohol does (Saletan 3) because when under the influence the driver does not lose sight from the road and constantly knows what is going on around him, even though his judgment has been impaired and his reaction time has been slowed down. In contrast, texting while driving makes you lose sight from the road which makes the drivers reaction time much longer than someone driving under the influence and can make him end up in a very bad accident.

I have texted while walking before, but it is uncommon for me. When I do I make sure to know my surroundings, and look both ways before I cross the street. I have been distracted before and put myself in danger. For example I was riding my bike and got distracted; as a result I almost got hit by a truck. People will always be distracted though by anything. We just need safer rules. We would also have to pay more to make the surroundings safer. A law banning text while walking is not needed because people will always be distracted by something in the world it will happen simultaneously.

The people on the other side of the coin think that texting while driving should not be banned because eating and driving or listening to radio can impair the driver as much as texting and driving do to a driver (Friedeman N. Pag). Also, many argue a law against texting would be difficult to enforce because it is hard to check if people are hiding their texts or not, just like some people do in class! Another counterpoint would be that people think it is