It Won’t Happen to Me… SMH…LOL Today 9 people were killed and 1,000 more were injured in crashes that were reported to involve a distracted driver1. Tomorrow there will be 9 more fatalities and 1,000 more injuries secondary to distracted driving. Distracted driving is “driving while not fully paying attention to the road”2 and can occur in a multitude of ways. However, distracted driving can be summed up in three main types: visual, manual, and cognitive. Visual distracted driving is when you take your eyes off the road. Manual distracted driving is when you take you hands off the wheel. Cognitive distracted driving is when you take you mind off of driving.2 Collisions occur in a split second, yet can change lives forever. While …show more content…
Today, texting while driving has become all too common. Texting while driving is especially dangerous because it combines all three types of distraction.3 Sending or reading a text message takes your eyes off the road for about 5 seconds, long enough to cover a football field while driving at 55 mph.4 On March 26th, 2010, at approximately 0514 CT, Bowling Green, KSP Post received a call that a truck-tractor semitrailer had collided with a passenger van on Interstate 65 near Munfordville, Ky. Investigation determined a 45 year-old male operating the semi departed the left lane while traveling southbound on Interstate 65. The driver crossed a 60-foot-wide median, struck a cable barrier system, entered the northbound lanes of travel and struck a 15 passenger van driven by a 41 year-old male. The van was occupied by 11 passengers (eight adults, two small children, and an infant). The truck driver and 10 of the 12 passengers of the van were killed. Investigators were able to determine that the driver of the semi had used his mobile phone for calls and text messages a total of 69 times while driving in a 24 hour period prior to the crash. 5 The driver made four calls in the minutes leading up to the crash, making the last call at 0514 CT, the same time the truck left the roadway. This crash gained attention nationwide and was pivotal in establishing new laws and regulations for the
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
Being the cause of a cell phone related accident can leave a person unable to handle the consequences of their actions. There is great concern regarding the dangers of distracted driving. This is made evident by legislation that has been put in place in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (2011), nationwide, 34 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam have enacted texting bans. Current data from the National Safety Council (2010) suggest that each year, at least 1.6 million traffic accidents (28% of all crashes) in the United States are caused by drivers talking on cell phones or texting. The U.S. Department of Transportation (2011) states that nine states, the District of Columbia, and
In this article “Distracted Driving”, many distractions are mentioned other than just cell phone usage, such as changing the radio station or driving with kids in the back seat. It is stated that the dangers from distracted driving are because of the decrease in brain function and inability to pay full attention to the road. These practices lead to wrecks and in many cases death.
According to Ashley Gaddis from Counterpoint, “From 1999 to 2008, nearly fifty-two thousand people were killed in car crashes caused by distracted drivers” (n.pag.). Distracted driving started when technology became mobile and handheld. Many people have died and gotten injured from people not paying attention to the road. This problem has been growing as technology advances. Distracted driving is a big problem and there needs to be stronger penalties and laws in place to deter people from distracted driving.
Secondly texting while driving can put a loved one at risk. Texting while driving can put you and your passenger at risk. If you were to get in a accident because of texting and driving, you and your passenger can get hurt. In an article called 10 Programmatic Reason´s that will make you stop texting and driving right now it said ¨in
While texting and driving the risks of getting into an accident go up greatly. Per every six seconds you are using your cell phone while driving, of those six seconds, four and a half seconds are spent with your eyes off of the road. Although 1,200 people were surveyed, most admitted that talking on the phone and texting are the two most dangerous things you can do while driving. Eighty one percent of drivers admit to making phone calls while driving. Dialing, talking and listening are all dangerous but most accidents occur when you are talking or listening because more time is spent doing those things than dialing itself. Texting causes a four hundred percent increase in time with your eyes spent off of the road, meaning that texting and driving is more dangerous. While not paying attention to the road many things are occurring and changing that you do not notice since you are not looking or paying attention.
Texting and many other forms of distracted driving such as eating, answering calls, and listening to loud music can be detrimental to how you drive. Of all these texting is arguably the most dangerous. Those who feel it 's not dangerous to text and drive think they are able to multi-task good enough behind the wheel to be able to text. Well, this is
One sunny day on a Houston road, the driver of a pickup truck collided with a church minibus. 13 people died, and the driver admitted he was texting and driving. Yet this happens very often. Over 330,000 car accidents happened from texting while driving in 2015. Distracted driving is very risky, because attention is drawn away from the road,
In 2016, 3,450 people were killed due to distracted driving accidents. Along with that, in 2015, over 391,000 people were injured, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Distracted Driving). Distracted driving is classified in three ways. Visual, which involves doing anything that is taking your eyes off the road. Manual, which is caused by taking your hands off the steering wheel. Lastly, cognitive, when your mind is distracted from your main task of driving and you are not giving your full attention to the road. Due to the increasing technology in our day to day lives, it is more common to find drivers distracted by cell phones rather than anything else. This is why it is critical that more laws are implemented to
Distracted driving is one of the fastest growing problems in the United States. It is starting to be considered as serious as drunk driving based on the dangerous outcomes. According to the Department of Transportation (2012), “distracted driving was a cause of roughly 450,000 accident-related injuries and nearly 5,500 fatalities in 2009 alone” (para. 1). Drivers who allow themselves to become distracted while driving are not only endangering themselves, but other innocent bystanders.
A study by Virginia Tech Driving Institute concluded that those who text while driving are 23 times more likely to be involved in a car accident. Other studies claim that texting while driving can be more harmful and detrimental than driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol because your mind is too consumed into your conversation.
Texting while driving takes away the one thing that absolutely everyone counts on while behind the wheel, vision. No matter where the phone is placed, whether it is on the dash board or on the steering wheel, one’s eyes are not where they need to be. People’s eyes are supposed to be on the road at all times. Texting takes that away and it doesn’t matter how quick someone thinks they are, there is always a possibility. Just for that split second of reading a message that is so important, a crash could happen. Eyes are the most important thing needed when driving and when not on the road a lot of harm can be caused.
Almost every teenager who can owns a car has one and almost 50% of them do text while driving. Texting while driving distract the awareness you have on the road ahead of you. There has been some research about driving while texting. The research shows that your reaction speed is reduced when you are doing this dangerous act (Friedeman N. Pag). When you are texting while driving you most likely are not going to notice the car right in front of you for you to hit. Another reason why you should not do this while you are driving is that you are not aware of signs in front. Results of missing the signs that you might drive into a closed road or even into a place that leads to nowhere in the woods.
1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealed that 515,000 people were injured in various car crashes in the United States due to texting. Around 28 percent of all crashes in 2008 were caused by drivers in the age group of 18 and 29, who admitted to texting while driving. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/texting-while-driving-statistics.html)
Texting and driving can also be dangerous because people could die. Not only that texting and driving causes distraction to where it increases the chances of you dying or getting into car accidents. On https://www.dmv.org/distracted-driving/texting-and-driving.php it says, “26% of all car crashes in 2014 involved cell phone use. At least 9 people are killed every day because of a distracted driver. More than 1,000 people are injured every day due to a distracted driver. In 2015 42% of teens say they have texted while driving—and