Death By Text Message : A New Perspective On Texting And Driving

Texting and driving are activities that separately are indispensable in everyday life, but together represent one of the greatest dangers society faces on a daily basis, from the moment the car starts and transits to the desired destination. It is so easy to look at the phone while driving! Everyone justifies themselves, “it’s just a second”, but everyone also knows, that only takes a second to have a fatal accident. This is why there is the need to raise public awareness and campaigning as in the Public Service Announcement, “Don’t text and drive”, produced and air on TV by News Channel 6 ABC, where the Pathos appeal in the most powerful rhetorical device used in the PSA and Logos and Ethos are also visible, but they are inferred rather than directly enlisted.

To investigate the dangers of texting while driving, a true experiment is needed to determine if texting is a cause of traffic accidents. A true experiment is thought to be the most accurate type of experimental research, and it is the only type that can establish a cause and effect relationship. Thus, a true experiment can find if texting is a cause that affects traffic accidents. To begin, the experiment will take place on a major road, located in an urban city because a large number of fatal traffic accidents occur in urban settings, when vehicles are traveling less than thirty miles per hour. Random assignment will be used to select participants, and place them into two equal groups, so the sample size is representative of age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic level. Random assignment helps eliminate bias between tech savvy teenagers and older adults, or the use of technology between different ethnicities, or income levels. The experiment will include a control and experimental group, and the manipulated variable is texting while driving. The control group will be instructed to drive through the mapped out course, without a cell phone present in the car. However, the experimental group will drive through the same course, with cell phones that are receiving text messages. The experimenters will have a camera in the car that helps them collect data from the both groups. Each driver will be evaluated on, the number of times they send a text message, the number of

Texting and driving was and continues to be one of the major factors of car accidents in America’s population. In the following advertisement named, “Phone in one hand, Ticket in the other” it is noted that texting and driving are frowned upon in our society, and the authorities are giving citizens tickets for texting and driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had created and promoted this ad to help decrease car accidents involving texting and driving, by informing the reader, you will be ticketed if you are caught being on your phone while driving a vehicle. The ad was first campaigned April 2015 by NHTSA. There are two messages being portrayed in this advertisement. First, the text of the ad, gets the audience thinking about two possible consequences of texting and driving. Secondly, the images demonstrate what may take place if you are using a cell phone while on the road. Lastly, both the text and images work together to get the message across that if you are caught texting and driving, you will be ticketed, and the use of a cellular device while driving can lead to a car accident. The, “Phone in one hand, Ticket in the other” ad successfully portrays its reasoning for being invented, and I believe the presence of this ad will decrease the amounts of accidents in America.

In today’s day and age, technology has drastically increased. People seem to rely on the use of their devices more than anything. Typically, whenever and wherever, everyone is engaged in some form of technology, cell phones in particular. From pagers, to car phones, to initial “flip-phones”, and now to smart-phones, people practically use up most of their daily time with these devices. Nowadays, a lot of people doesn’t even like to have phone conversations…they can deliver their entire thought through a simple text message. In some retrospect, that’s a very good thing; in others, it can be extremely crucial, especially when it comes to texting and driving. Texting and driving has been the leading cause of car accidents in the recent years,

In an attempt to bring awareness about distracted driving to viewers, AT&T has decided to show a different perspective about the issue. Drivers who chose to display reckless behavior while driving are often viewed as careless, and irresponsible. However, many times even a responsible, caring person can make a bad decision and become distracted. This moment of bad judgment can lead to a tragic accident that will affect all those involved. The commercial The Unseen by AT&T used in their It Can Wait campaign is effective in getting their message across. Through the use of scare tactics and people’s emotions AT&T’s commercial; The Unseen is effective because it gets drivers to think twice before becoming distracted behind the wheel.

Motor vehicle collisions stand as one of the leading causes of death in North America. Teens and young adults who have recently gotten their license usually account for about one fatality every 10 minutes. Researchers from the New England Journal of Medicine have done a study on the occurrence of car crashes and the average statistics for crashes during the year shows that about one person in 50 will become involved in a motor vehicle collision. For the people who have become involved in a crash; only about 1 percent of them will die, then 10 percent will be hospitalized, and 25 percent will unfortunately become temporarily disabled. (Donald A. Redelmeier, M.D., and Robert J. Tibshirani, Ph.D., New England Journal of

After the audience has absorbed the photos, their eyes skim towards the text found in the middle of the ad that is shouted in bright yellow that “Heather’s life ended too soon”. These words confirm their earlier fears of the girl’s potential tragedy, that has now become a reality. The text continues with a blurb from Heather’s parents until another blast of yellow text appears and states the ad’s message; “Please don’t text and drive. Come home alive.” Taking in the entirety of the ad, Txt Responsibly hit home with its audience of young drivers by connecting emotionally and age wise through its strategic use of pathos, logos, ethos, and kairos. All of these rhetorical appeals tie together and play an important role in convincing young drivers to think before texting while driving because it might just end their

In my research I realized that one possible reason why so many people choose to text while driving is due to new advancements of text message technology. Consumers are always looking for more efficient ways to consume technology, and text message technology is no different. This ties in directly with the theme of

“’In 2012 alone, the National Safety Council estimated that texting while driving was responsible for between 281,000 and 786,000 motor vehicle crashes,’” (Gormley, pg. 88). Statistics show that there is a rise in accidents stemming from distracted driving from texting. It got me thinking with so many accidents being caused by drivers carelessly glancing down for a meaningless text, should texting while driving be banned across the nation? Whether people think they can safely type on their phone while driving, or just don’t think there is any real danger in the act does not matter. The truth is if you take your eyes off the road to

Don’t text and drive. Keep your phone out of your hand. There are about 1..3 million crashes involving phones per year. Texting while driving is dangerous because people overestimate their abilities.

With the society we live in today, a cell phone almost becomes a necessity. Although cell phones come in handy and even make life a little easier, our cell phone usage is becoming a threat to us. There are several ways in which this powerful object can be dangerous. Texting while driving is one danger many do not realize until something drastic happens. Texting while driving is not only a threat to us, but as well as other drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. However, with the lack of enforcement on the laws and punishments, the use of cell phones while driving does not come as a threat to drivers, which needs to change.

The message I chose to analyze is texting and driving, and the many dangers surrounded by it. I selected this message because people need to become more aware of how serious the issue is and the increasing number of fatalities that are resulting due to texting and driving. Did you know that texting takes your eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds? At 55 mph, that’s like driving the length of an entire football field blindfold (Distraction.Gov). Now just envision that you are driving to the grocery store and you receive a text message from someone. You check the road ahead of you and everything seems to be flowing smoothly so you glance down to reply to the message. Then as you look back up, all of the sudden there is a huge traffic jam but it is too late for you to stop and you smash into the vehicle ahead of you.

The most recent controversy among U.S. citizens, which is on everyone's mind, is whether or not cellphone use while operating a motor vehicle should be permitted. Both sides of this debate have justifiable reasons, but certainly one is bound to succeed in preference to the opposed side. Cellular devices being used should be off limits while simultaneously driving, because it puts not only the driver in danger, but also any passengers or other drivers at risk. There are numerous rules that quarrel cellphone use in certain situations, including laws that forbid their use while driving, yet countless citizens rebel without batting an eye. I'm in favor of diminishing cellphone use while operating a motor vehicle, along the side of law enforcement and other law abiding citizens.

Many people lose their lives each year. It is sad because these deaths can be 100 percent prevented. No text, email, or social media status is worth dying for. The modern conveniences of smartphones allow us to have the world at our fingertips for business, education, and entertainment, however they have also increased distraction levels, and reduced verbal communication. The distractions, illegal issues, and accidents are just a few reasons while people shouldn’t text and drive.

Texting while driving is a growing problem. With many young people owning cell phones and also starting to drive, whom do they learn from? They learn from their parents who, sixty-seven percent are addicted to looking at their phones. Teens learn from their parents, therefore this escalates matters.