Distracted Driving While Using Cell Phones

Texting while driving puts many driver’s lives in danger daily. Multiple people feel that staying connected to the outside world is more important than focusing on the road ahead, although it is not. It can harm others on the road who are doing nothing other than trying to make it to their destination safely. If people would open their eyes to the dangers of texting while driving, less car accidents would take place every year and the roads would be much safer. Distracted drivers need to know the position they put others in as well as themselves. While behind the wheel, drivers should never direct their attention to their cell phone, and should always keep their eyes on the road.

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.

Enforcement problems arise because the offense is hard to detect except through erratic driving behavior (Gardner, 2010). Traffic stops such as those used to check for seatbelt use may help enforce bans, as officers may ask to check cell phones for evidence of very recent texting activity (Gardner, 2010). Another difficulty in enforcing these laws involves the individual drivers themselves ---many of whom believe laws do not have an effect on them (Sherzan, 2010). Many drivers simply ignore the law because they think they are safe drivers and any possible punishment for a violation will be minimal (Sherzan, 2010). Another reason drivers continue to use cell phones while driving is because they do not fear being prosecuted or convicted of crimes if they are actually caught (Sherzan, 2010). In addition to enforcement issues, statistics seem to indicate there has not been a reduction in the number of crashes in states where such a ban is in place (Sherzan, 2010). The following section will illustrate how cell phone usage contributes to automobile

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.

According to kelly (2012), about “six billion messages are sent a day and over 2.2 trillion in the US, (Kelly, 2012). The worst violators are high school seniors, 58% have said they have texted while they were driving within the month before the study (Bratsis,2013).” That is a lot of teens that are texting nowadays. The majority of teenagers argue that “texting and driving is a “common” thing to do.” but when not only their lives but also other

Some states do more than others. In October 2013, the state of Florida passed a law that banned texting and driving. To some, this may seem like a good law, however, if we take a look at it we can see that it is actually very weak. In his article, “Florida Cell Phone & Texting and Driving Laws”, Rich Stim tells us that this law does not allow anyone to type or read any kind of messages while they are driving. He also points out that this law can only be enforced if a police officer pulls the driver over for another moving violation, making this a secondary enforcement law (Stim). So we can see that you can not be pulled over just for texting and driving, you need tone doing something else illegal first, such as maybe speeding or running red light or stop sign. If you do get a ticket for texting and driving, it is a non moving violation and the penalty is $30 (“The 2014 Florida Statues”). The State of Florida could do more to help decrease distracted driving.. According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, there are 14 states that have banned the use of hand held cell phones completely, while 38 states ban the use of cell phones by novice drivers (“Distracted Driving Laws”). There are 44 states that have banned texting while driving, and of those all but 5 are primary enforcement laws, which means that a police officer can pull you over and give you a ticket just for texting and driving (“Distracted Driving Laws”). Florida’s ban on texting could be stronger if it were made a primary enforcement law. The state could do more to prevent distracted driving if it would add a law that bans either all hand held cell phone use, or at lease put a ban on cell phone use for novice drivers as many of the other states have

Living in a world full of new technology being made and thought of is starting to be the main cause of why the universe is losing so many of our teens and young adults to texting and driving Technology is also improving in different ways that people can not keep up with it. In 2013 about 3,154 people died in an accident with a distracted driver(CDC Prevention). Many laws have been issued to decrease the amount of deaths by distracted drivers. On September 30, 2009 President Barack Obama made an executive order banning federal employees to not text and drive on government business or equipment (CDC Prevention). States are trying to create laws to ban inexperienced drivers and adults from being distracted while driving to lower the amount of

Since the beginning of the smart phone era, humanity has come to build relationships with not only people, but their electronic devices. From talking on their phones and exploring apps, to texting while driving, people cannot seem to put down their smart-devices. According to the passage Introduction to Cell Phones and Driving: At Issue, the average amount of texts people send daily runs from around 40 – 110 (2015). It may not seem like the highest number, but knowing that more than half of those messages are sent while driving makes the matter of texting a lot worse. At this point in time, there have been laws prohibiting texting and driving as well as talking on the phone. Yet, to this day, those laws are null and void; regardless, the talking and texting while driving never stops. Although this phenomenon happens daily and causes many minor and major accidents, the probability of seizing this behavior is little to none.

Many people admit to texting while driving on a daily basis. Mostly everyone has either received, read, or responded to a text in their lifetime. In 2014, there were 3,179 people killed in an accident involving texting. (“The dangers of texting while driving”) Multiple people have died due to texting while driving or someone who was texting while driving. In the past 10 years texting while driving has been getting out of hand. Texting while driving should be illegal in every state because it can cause a fatal accident, texting while driving is getting worse every year, and it can take the life of an innocent person.

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

V: Conclusion: Therefore according to the facts and statistics that were shown previously, people that are still texting while driving might think that they can juggle these big frames of steel they drive every day, with devices like their cell phones without paying the price, are greatly mistaken! First off, no one can say that texting while driving is not one if not the most dangerous action one can do behind a motorized vehicle. What can refute that problem that seems all around us whether commuting or not. Consequently due to the nature of the cell phone use while behind the wheel drivers should not have permission under any circumstance to text while driving. Regardless of the stance every individual takes on this matter, people need to realize the importance of this issue and implement the good driving behaviors. As

Although some people say believe that cell phones are good in case of an emergency, the implementation of cell phones is distracting drivers and leading to increases in crash percentages, elevates the percentage of teen deaths and influxes in insurance rates of teen drivers. Distracted driving is a growing problem in today's society. It causes countless deaths every year. This problem has progressed over the years due to the progress in mobile devices. The advance of cell phones has made distracted driving even more of a problem. Texting and driving is a very common problem because of the progression of cell phones. Many people think that five seconds is the minimal amount of time that drivers take away from the road when they are trying to

With growth of technology comes a new trend such as texting, e-mailing, or checking Facebook and Twitter on personal mobile devices. Sure it is convenient to be able to check all the social media in the palms of your hand, but there is a time and place to check your phone and behind the wheel of a car is not that place. Society is making social media so urgent that people are putting themselves and others around them in danger. Texting while driving has recently been a trend that is troubling society. Drivers are taking attention off the road just so they can immediately respond to their “urgent” messages. It seems anyone who is up to date on how to use their

US research reveals that 4 out of 5 college student drivers have used their cell phones to send or receive text messages while driving despite the majority recognizing that the activity represents a risk. It found that male drivers are more likely to engage in texting while driving but consider themselves more proficient drivers than others and so less likely to endanger themselves or others while doing so. Analysis indicates 'texting impulsiveness ' is positively associated with people who text frequently and those who text while driving, it reports in the International Journal of Sustainable Strategic Management this month. Earlier studies have suggested that texting while driving is on a par with driving while intoxicated with alcohol as a significant risk factor for highway accidents. Indeed, some research suggested that texting slows driver reaction times more than being drunk. Other studies reinforce the myth of multitasking and show that very few (2.5%) people can competently undertake two or more tasks at once. Moreover, our brains allow us to focus completely only on a single task at any given time, so those people demonstrated as multitaskers are simply better at switching seamlessly between two activities. Texting while driving is already banned in some countries, including the UK for this reason. There seems to be a mentality that use of electronic devices is dangerous for everyone. While the US government has introduced a public awareness campaign based around

Cell phones are among the most popular electronic devices used in the US, especially while conducting a motor vehicle. Cell phone use while driving has become very popular among the past years; we hear about it more frequently, do you know what can happen to you when you use an electronic device while driving? Cellphone use while driving may include, texting phone calls, gps and networking, those are all actions done while driving, this should be stopped, cell phone use while driving should be banned in the US.