Cell Phone Use While Driving Essay

Driving Us to Distraction Summary-Response Paper The essay, ‘Driving us to Distraction’ by Gilbert Cruz is about the dangers of hands-free technology while driving. The author argues that while driving and talking on a cell phone is deadly, using hands-free technology is not that much better of a choice. He supports his argument by citing a 2003 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study that found cellphone use to be a serious hazard on the road and by mentioning a series of simulator tests conducted in 2007 by a psychology professor at the University of Utah named David Strayer.

We all are probably aware that texting and talking on the phone is a distraction to all drivers and can be very dangerous. Also, we all know there are many other distractions besides texting and driving, and any type of technology can cause a driver to be distracted. Forty-one percent of all drivers use their hands to text in the car while driving, according to Greg Gardner (52). It can cause people to forget about pedestrians or their surrounding areas. People who are distracted often aren’t focused and don’t have both hands on the wheel. According to Bryan Wilson, people may say that cell phones are easy to be pointed out as a problem, but statistics show the damage cell phones can do to a person while they are driving (6). According to Simon Usborne, time spent not looking at the road while talking on the phone is 15% of the time (68). Also, while texting and driving the time spent not looking at the road is 30% of the time (Usborne 69). As technology improves more and more people may feel the need to use their cell phones while driving. According to Melissa Healy, cell phone use can be as dangerous as drunk driving (42). Tests should be done to compare the various ways of sober people under the influence driving also to compare the impact of texting and driving. This would give us a better understanding of just how dangerous driving and being on our phone really is.

This includes the House Bill 1013 which went into effect back in October. It bans any driver of a motor vehicle to engage in text messaging. A few other states that ban the use of a cell phone while driving are Illinois, California, New York, and Indiana has a ban on any one under the age of 18.

“Distracted driving refers to any nondriving activity that takes motorists ' attention away from the safe operation of their vehicles” (Leone). Every time a driver gets in a vehicle and decides to use a cell phone to have a conversation, either talking or texting, they put themselves and others lives in danger. The convenience a cell phone and the capabilities they offer have made them a substantial distraction and a cause of significant source of vehicle accidents and fatalities. There are three different types of distractions: visual, manual and cognitive. Cell phone use is the most dangerous distraction because it involves all three different types of distraction and plays a part in the increasing issue of distracted driving. Even

Most teens, and even adults, use their cellphones while they drive. They think a quick text or call won’t hurt while they are at a red light. They call it multitasking, and think that since they have a hand on the wheel they are fine. In the articles “How The Brain Reacts” by Marcel Just and Tim Keller, and “The Science Behind Distracted Driving” by KUTV, Austin they describe how the mind is working in the cellphone situation.

1). Texting and using a cell phone are the two most common distractions while driving (“Distracted” para. 1). It Can Wait campaign has started to stop drivers from using handheld devices (“Distracted” para. 3). Distractions affect one’s driving performance (“Distracted” para. 5). Drivers are distracted around half the time they drive (“Distracted” para. 5).15% to 25% of crashes on all levels are caused by distraction (“Distracted” para. 5). Texting increases the driving risk, even more than regular cell phone use (“Distracted” para. 5). When cops fill out crash reports, the states should keep track of them (“Distracted” para. 6). There are many distraction while driving that may cause the driver to take focus off the road (“Distracted” para. 8). Some distraction that everyone does is : changing the radio or a CD, talking to passenger, and observing the event outside the vehicle (Distracted para. 8). There are effects on telematics on driving behaviors (“Distracted” para. 9). Some say that the electronic device companies need to inform the public about the real use of these devices (“Distracted” para.

“A distracted driver may fail to see up to 50% of the available information in the driving environment. You may look but not actually “see” what is happening. Focus of the driver is not on the road or traffic and it becomes difficult to handle phone and vehicle at one time. Cell phones during driving also reduce the mental capacity of drivers as they fail to concentrate on minor or major activities happening around them. Cell phones distract drivers' attention resulting in comparatively slow response to traffic signals and other related traffic events. Studies have shown the fact that breaking reaction time is also slower while talking on a cell phone during driving. The perception, vision, general awareness, and concentration of the driver are impacted while communicating on a cell phone during driving. Especially during bad weather or driving on slippery roads, drivers engaging in conversation pay less attention to these areas increasing risks of fatal accidents.

Using a cell phone while driving has become the biggest manual distraction while driving.  According to a study, conducted by The University of Utah (2013),

Drivers may think they can multitask while driving but that can cause others to be hurt in a matter of seconds when people look away from the road to check a phone. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administer reports that there are three types of driving distractions, which are visual, cognitive, and manual. The article “Distraction” discloses “To put it another way, a distraction is anything that takes your eyes off the road (visual distraction), your mind off the road (cognitive distraction), or your hands off the wheel (manual distraction).” These three distractions are very common when texting while driving because they require drivers to take away their attention from the road in order to respond to the text message. Drivers need to have one hand off the wheel when texting, which takes away from the manual aspect of driving. The visual distraction of driving are things that take the driver’s focus and eyes off the road, even for a split second which happens when people look down at their phones. Cognitive distractions keep their mind from focusing on the road during driving because their mind is on the text message. It does not take long to crash once a person takes their eyes off the road. According to the Daily Editorials article The Solution for Texting and Driving it references “At highway speeds, when you take your eyes off the road for five seconds your car travels more than

Studies conducted from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety shows that using a cell phone while driving significantly impairs a driver’s reaction time and triples the risk of being involved in a crash or near-crash, and text messaging increases crash risk by a multiple of 8 for all ages (NHTSA, 2009). Situational awareness is significantly decreased while engaging in distracted driving, and in turn inattention blindness is increased drastically creating a potentially deadly situation on the roads. A driver who is multitasking has less brain function available and thus literally fails to see or pay attention to things that are squarely in the field of vision (Texting and Driving, 2010). On the other hand there are those that may be able to multitask successfully though the challenge is

According to the author’s hypothesis in relation to inattention-blindness, when drivers are conversing on their cell phones, whether hands-free or hand-held, there is a deficit in their cognitive abilities. The results are impaired attention, with regards to their environment, while the driver’s attention is more focused on their conversation. Safety becomes an issue since these drivers are not analyzing important information about potential hazards. In addition, drivers having conversations with passengers in their vehicles were much better equipped to analyze their surroundings and thus less likely to experience inattention-blindness deficits in their cognitive abilities.

As technology advances, people become notorious for using their electronics in inappropriate situations. Teenagers in present day commonly text at the dinner table, while crossing a street, and even while driving. Not only do teenagers text, their parents do, as well. Texting is a frequent fad among the young adults, it also a convenient method for parents to keep in contact with their children. People nowadays have to be in contact with friends and family at every moment of the day especially while driving it is the equivalent of driving under the influence, using hand-held devices (like Bluetooth) will decrease the number of accidents caused by phones, and studies show texting reduces a persons reaction time.

Although cell phones have not been around for a very long time, they have become a key part of our lives. People use their cell phones for just about everything such as: texting, talking, schedule planning, internet surfing, etc. Sometimes we can even do two or more of these things at the same time. Unfortunately, people are also choosing the wrong time to be using their cell phones: while they are driving. As a society, we have become so focused on how much we can do at one time that we are willing to risk our personal safety as well as the safety of others because we can’t put down our cell phones.

Texting while driving has developed into a growing danger amongst many drivers. Driving requires full attention at all times; moreover, texting impairs the drivers’ abilities, causing his or her reaction time to decrease dramatically. When his or her full attention is on the phone rather than on the road, the driver is unable to witness the traffic; therefore, causing a collision due to lack of focus. When both hands are on the phone texting, the driver easily loses control of the vehicle because of his or her inability to concentrate on the road. Improper driving is an unnecessary risk to

Hands free cell phone usage should not be used while driving based on evidence that shows that the use a cell phone while driving leads to more driving mistakes and overall lack of awareness (Sanbonmatsu et al., 2015). Drivers that use cell phones make more serious and minor errors, but cannot recall making these errors due to a lack of awareness. These drivers are more unaware of their inconsistent speed, placement in lanes and near accidents than those that are not using a cell phone. Additionally, these drivers are less likely to self-regulate their driving efficiently like drivers not using cell phones because of this lack of awareness. This reduction in self-regulation moreover leads to an increase in both minor and major errors (Sanbonmatsu et al. 2015). To determine this, Sanbonmatsu et al. (2015) gathered participants and split them into either a control/no cell phone group and an experimental/cell phone group. These participants were then tested in a driving simulator with the control group simply running through the simulator while the cell phone group called a friend or family member and had a conversation on a hands free device. The results of this experiment indicated that even though the control group did still make errors, they had more awareness of those errors than the experimental group, and made less serious errors than the experimental group.