Being Distracted While Walking

Traveling at 55 mph, while looking down at a phone for just five seconds, the car will have traveled the length of a whole football field (textinganddrivingsafety.com). So much can happen in 100 yards, and five second is the minimum time of eyes being off of the road. Texting while driving is not that much different from driving with your eyes closed, and no one would ever do that. Texting while driving makes it 23x more likely to be in a crash (textinganddrivingsafety.com). A law banning texting and driving would result in more concentrated drivers and less distracted driving accidents. A law is necessary to keep all drivers and passengers

Furthermore, ‘texting in cars and trucks causes over 3,000 deaths and 330,000 injuries per year as stated by a Harvard Center for risk study’ (Hanson n.p.). Just imagine all the lives that could be saved from deaths or injuries if people stop texting while driving because it is a major distraction for them. There belief is that they can multitask, but the sad reality is that the brain cannot do that. The brain has to focus in a particular task at a time. In order to do things right or correctly. Pennings a highway patrol helped demonstrate teens that texting while driving is a dangerous action. He made several so called “ Professional Texters” pass several obstacles while answering text messages and the results were not pleasing at all, cones were flying. The questions asked were not hard, yet they still manage to make the driver lose focus from driving. This is why implementing a rigorous law would come in handy. People will reconsider the thought of many things while being in their vehicles such as texting,eating and drinking, watching videos, putting makeup or grooming, etc. The states have not yet implemented a good law they only prohibit it during school zones or if a police officer sees you, but that is not enough.

There are a variety of laws regarding distracted driving around the country. Be aware that there are guidelines that define usage in general, as well as guidelines for specific types of use. For example, 46 states prohibit texting

Texting while driving should be illegal here are the reasons why...their have been plenty of times that nothing good came from texting while driving. When you do it your putting yourself and someone else in danger. You increase the risk of an accident when you take the chance of texting while driving.

Distracted driving, such a texting, is not a new problem, “more than 15 Americans are killed and more than 1,200 are injured in car crashes that involve a distracted driver” (Distracted Driving). There is not an easy way to stop this ever growing problem since there are so many people in the world and not enough law enforcers. If there was a police officer assigned for every person in the world there would not be a problem and that just is not possible. Being able to just have your phone in your pocket and in hand reach is one of the main issues, people are tempted to use their phone just for one second. They think that one text is more important than their

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.

One great reason they should ban texting while driving is because of what happens on the roads. For example, I found in article one that “more than nine people are killed everyday because of people that are distracted because of the cell phones.That being said this means over 1,153 people are injured every year while others are being distracted.”

Many people are coming together to bring awareness to this ongoing problem. Supporters of bans on texting while driving assert that texting motorists pose a significant danger not only to themselves but to countless innocent drivers, passengers and pedestrians throughout the United States. Texting while driving impairs one's ability to drive as much as being drunk does and no one would ever argue that drunk-driving laws are unnecessary. Supporters also point to polling data that show overwhelming support for making texting while driving illegal. There has been reports of the government wanting to pass laws to ban using your cell phone while

texting while stopped at a traffic light; the law was previously meant to stop phones from

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

Not only is texting while behind the wheel bad enough itself, many people compare the danger level to drunk driving. Driving while intoxicated at the same time is illegal, just as some believe texting while driving should be as well. Larry Copeland states that after a study was conducted at The University of Utah, it showed that driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08% is equal to texting and driving. If people were more aware of how closely related texting while driving and drunk driving are, it would help to inform all drivers on safety behind the wheel. Not only are distracted drivers harming themselves, yet they are putting every other driver on the road in the same dangerous position without realizing it.

Texting while driving puts everyone in danger because it takes your attention away from the task of driving. According to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in 2015 there were 3,477 deaths and another 391,000 injuries caused by distracted driving in the United States, and that’s just in one year. While this

One reason why texting and walking should be banned is because it’s causing serious accidents. In Kristin Lewis’s article, “Would You Ban Texting and Walking?”, it states on page 10 that “Between 2000 an 20011, distracted walking led to more than 11,000 injuries in the U.S*”. This shows that in these past few years, texting and walking has caused various injuries. This is one reason

As Scholastic Scope Would you Ban Texting and Walking? By Kristen Lewis states, “turns out our brains can’t focus on our phones and our surrounding environment simultaneously.” (page 10) Even though pedestrians think they can keep in touch with their surroundings in their peripheral vision, studies have proved otherwise. Distracted walking is still dangerous. Also from Scholastic Scope Would you Ban Texting and Walking?, “In 2012, a 15-year-old on her phone was hit by a car and killed.” (page 10) This is an important reason why the country needs a ban on distracted walking, so further accidents like the previously stated can be

I think that walking while using a device should be banned. Many people have been injured due to this and I think it is time for a change. The article “Would You Ban Texting and Walking” by Kristen Lewis shows the consequences of texting and walking.