Distraction While Driving

Distracted driving accounted for more than 3,100 deaths in 2013. The U.S. Department of Education has taken several steps to control the number of distracted driving incidents. The organization has held summits and pushed to enforce strict texting and driving laws. Technology manufacturers are starting to get involved in the nation’s effort to save lives. The ComSonics company is currently producing a device that can potentially track a person who is sending texts from a cell phone while driving.

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 an issue everywhere. The number one form of distracted driving is using a phone, and it is becoming more of an issue everyday. According to an article “driver distractions” 80% of crashes and 65% of near crashes involve some form of driver distraction that occurred three seconds before the vehicle crash. The main causes that lead to the crashes are reaching for moving objects inside the vehicle, looking at an object or event outside the vehicle, reading, or cell phone use. Cell phone use is the number one reason for distracted driver crashes so, it is the topic that will be covered.

Texting while driving is the distraction that most people focus on, but it’s not the only distraction while driving. Other distractions include fixing your makeup, changing the radio, messing with the controls for your heat/air, programming your gps, making a phone call, from talking

In this essay it will talk about what distracted driving is and the dangers of distracted driving. Distracted driving is the act of driving while enabling yourself into other activities and not paying attention to the road or others around you. Since cars have been invented distracted driving has been around in society. People say that distracted driving is the new drunk driving, it is actually supposably more dangerous the drinking and driving. Also they say the more a distracted driver drives with the distraction the more they get comfortable with it, then the more it happens. It is hard to prevent distracted driving since it is temporary, they usually do the distraction for a short period of time then put it away. Distracted driving is very selfish and wrong, people who are distracted drivers pretty much are telling everyone else on the road that them and their wants are more important than their own life or other drivers on the road’s life. Distracted driving can affect any age groups, but typically it is the younger age groups between the ages of fifteen to twenty-nine. Truth is though everyone some point in time in their life has been a distracted driver. Ten percent of all drivers fifteen to nineteen are involved in fatal crashes revolved around distractions. There are many ways you can get distracted while driving such as cognitive distractions, which is when your mind is not focused on driving, then there is visual distractions which is when you the driver is looking at anything besides the road, auditory, which is like when your music is too loud or responding to a ringing device, lastly the final type of distraction is manual distraction which is when you take one or both of your hands off the wheel for any specific reason. Some things that are considered distracted driving are smoking, eating or drinking, adjusting your radio or climate settings, adjusting seat belts or mirrors, talking to your passengers, using an electrical device such as a GPS or a cell phone, also just getting lost in your own thought. Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of deaths, also it is usually caused by cell phone use. Eleven teens die every day as a result of texting while driving. Kansas is was of the

Even though talking on the phone while driving could have a good reason, it can be extremely dangerous. Some states have already made it illegal to talk on the phone while driving, not all citizens follow this law. This law should most definitely be passed in other states.

In 2014, there were 32,675 deaths related to motor vehicle accidents (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and The Highway Loss Data Institute, 2015). The top reported causes of car accidents are distracted driving, speeding, and drunk driving (Starver, 2014). So many lives have been lost to the road, but fortunately, the number of deaths in motor vehicle accidents are decreasing year to year. This trend also correlates with the increasing amount of laws created in order to deter people from actions associated with the causes of many car accidents. In order to continue this trend of reducing fatalities related to car accidents, the federal government should pass laws to standardize safer practices across states, as well as require new drivers, and those who have had their licenses revoked, to take courses on the dangers of driving and defensive driving practices. To support these laws, the federal government could

First, what is distracted driving? Distracted driving is any activity that takes the drivers attention away from driving. These distractions threaten everyone in the vehicle and the innocent bystander’s safety. Some of the distractions include: texting, eating and drinking, reading, watching a video, adjusting the radio, putting on makeup. These distractions take the drivers attention away from what they should be doing. In 2013, 3,154 people were killed in an accident involving a distracted driver. Around 424,000 people were

So as long as I’ve been driving I’ve always recalled my mother’s voice saying, “Don’t drink and drive. Sleep at a friend’s house or pay for a taxi. Don’t Do It echoing in the back of my head.” So imagine my surprise when I found out that “driver distraction is actually more important now than critical crash factors such as fatigue, drug ingestion and alcohol intoxication”. According to John Lee, author of Driver Distraction and Inattention: Advances in Research and Countermeasures, “Road vehicle crashes are predicted to become the third largest cause of death and injury globally by 2020”.

Roughly 400,000 are injured in car crashes involved in distracted driving. In 2014 11% of drivers under the age of 20 involved in fatal accidents were proclaimed to be distracted at the time of the crash. 660,000 teen drivers aim to use their phones while behind the wheel of a car.Sometimes you get distracted without even knowing. You could be driving and talking, but while you're talking you're looking over at the person you're talking to. That's a distraction. It takes roughly 1-2 seconds to get distracted and crash or slide of the road. In that moment you look away maybe even to check the time or change the radio stations, the car in front of you could have put on breaks while you're still going 45 mph. Teenage drivers are distracted because

The popularity of self-portraits, also known as selfies, is ever growing in Illinois, and elsewhere. People regularly take these types of photos at all times and in all types of places. In fact, CBS Interactive Inc. reported that 17 percent of the respondents in one survey admitted to taking photos, including selfies, while behind the wheel. A potentially dangerous distraction, this can result in collisions, which may cause serious injuries or death for those involved.

While you are driving at any time, you should not be allowed to talk on the phone at all. Studies show that it is very hard, or impossible, for the human brain to concentrate on two things at once. If a person is talking on their cellular device while driving, then their entire attention will not be on the task at hand.

The state of Texas needs more restrictive laws on use of hand held devices, such as cellphones or smartphones while driving to reduce the amount of distraction to drivers. Historically traffic laws across our country have changed over the years to increase public safety and decrease mortality and morbidity on our roadways. Mandatory seat belt laws, child restraint laws, as well as mandatory blood alcohol testing in many states are but a few of these examples. Through each of these examples, individual personal preference was outweighed by the greater safety outcome. One may dislike wearing a seatbelt, but not doing so, is against the law.

o The most common distractions and causes of Driver Distraction: day dreaming 62%, phone distractions 12%, paying more attention to people or objects outside the vehicle 7%, passengers in the car 5%

Driving while talking on a hands-free phone can be just as distracting as talking on a hand-held phone, says researchers at the University of Sussex in England.