It's Time To Stop Distracted Driving

Distracted driving; most of us are guilty of it without even knowing it. Distracted driving is doing anything else unrelated to driving while behind the wheel. This could include: using a cell phone, changing the radio station, eating food, and even having a conversation. The most distracting of them all is using a cell phone because it requires the user to manually input information. The laws surrounding texting while driving are far too lenient when compared to laws on drunk driving, yet both can end in a car crash. People texting while driving should face steeper penalties than what is already in place because they are a danger to anyone around them. The small fines are not enough to deter people. While banning cell phones from being allowed in vehicles is not an effective approach to the problem, stricter laws should be put in place to make the roads a safer place. Texting while driving penalties should be treated with a similar severity that DUI charges are. The penalties for texting and driving need to be increased because it would make the roads safer, increase the government’s revenue, and help solve the problem of texting while driving.

First we need to start giving police officers more authority over distracted driving. The state of New Hampshire was alarmed by increasing numbers of distracted driving deaths and accidents.Therefore they passed a law in 2015 that if you are the age of 17 or younger than you can not be on your phone while driving (Altschiller). In Hartford, Connecticut and Syracuse, New York they increased high visibility police enforcements combined with more public services campaigns. These additions showed good results in those two states when it came to a decrease in distracted driving and accident due to

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.

Arizona is one of four states that has yet to put a law against distracted driving into effect. The definition of distracted driving is defined as the practice of driving a motor vehicle while engaged in another activity. 21% of fatal accidents involving a teen driver were caused by distracted driving. Do these statistics confirm that a harsh distracted driving law need to be in effect or should it be a personal responsibility of oneself or the parents of young drivers. As more states create distracted driving laws the number of deaths each year are still rising meaning that these law that are being set are not fixing the issue and are seemingly making it worse. Distracted driving should be a personal responsibility and not a law that needs

Distracted driving in America is not a trivial issue in today's society. On average, eight people are killed and one thousand one hundred sixty one people are injured due to accidents involving distracted drivers, particularly due to texting. Distracted driving is a huge issue in our society. The risks are great and lead to unfathomable results. Distracted driving has also taken such a big toll on our Nation, that laws have been put in place in hopes of preventing distracted driving.

Annotated Bibliography THESIS STATEMENT: The use of a cell phone while driving has been proven to be more dangerous than driving while legally intoxicated. The United States Government should ban all cell phone use while driving because it is a danger to public health. Centers for Disease Control. (2016). Distracted Driving.

Nearly nine in 10 teenage drivers have engaged in distracted driving even though they know that their actions increase their risk of getting into a car accident (Copeland). Drivers know that what they do is unacceptable but they still do it. Distracted driving is any activity that can distract a person’s attention away from driving (“Facts and Statistics”). Distracted driving can include changing the radio station, texting, eating, looking at an advertisement at the side of the road, or talking on the phone. There has been an issue in whether tougher laws are needed for distracted driving. To most people, tougher laws will make drivers not drive and be distracted because there will be a major consequence to it. Even though tougher laws will help some individuals,

There have been new laws created in California regarding distracted driving, or using a mobile device while driving. One new law that was created is, the requirement use of a hands-free device by drivers over the age of 18. This is only accepted in the case of emergency.

In Nevada, there was a law that was created for drivers, which was no texting, and talking on the phone while driving. Texting or operating a handheld device while behind the wheel distracts driver’s attention off the road, the driver loses its focus and ends up getting a ticket or worse into a car accident.In Nevada, there was an estimate of about 3,500 distraction- related car crashes in Nevada annually, that's more than twenty percent of car accidents happening on the road each year.What it means that there are many ways a driver could be distracted for example it's not just texting that's distracting drivers, but going on the internet on the phone or even talking could make a driver be distracted at all time without paying attention to the road, resulting into crashing the car.

Distracted driving has been the most recent cause of accidents on the road presently. Of course there are many other reasons why drivers get into accidents, but it is mainly because they get distracted. Police in El Cerrito, California even gave more than 600 citations in April to drivers for distracted driving violations (“El Cerrito”).Also,“nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million injured last year in the U.S. due to drivers being distracted”(“Distracted”).Distracted driving today causes many accidents through the use of technology, eating and drinking, and children in the backseat.

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

According, to the facts and statistics from "What Is Distracted Driving?" Distraction.gov, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2013. http://www.distraction.gov/stats-research-laws/facts-and-statistics.html,” in the years of 2014s, there were at least 431,000 people killed and injured in

Should Oregon’s distracted driving law be changed? The distracted driving law for Oregon is that a driver cannot use a hand-held device while driving. However a hands-free device may be used if you are over the age of eighteen. The law aims to reduce distractions for drivers. It specifically prohibits cell phones to talk or text. The brain can only handle one major task at a time. If there are more than one task the brain will have to divert the attention from one to the other causing them to not focus on the other task. In the case of driving while texting they will be paying more attention to their phone than the road and can cause serious accidents. Driving while using a cell phone reduces the brain activity focused on driving by 37%.

Daily, thousands of accidents are occurring around the world due to distracted drivers. Scientifically proven, distracted driving is almost, if not worse, equivalent to drunk driving. Drunk driving is illegal therefore the use of cellphones while driving should also be illegal and not permitted. There are far too many innocent deaths caused from irresponsible drivers that are selfish to others on the road. Every driver has the opportunity to make their own decision, life, or simple yet life changing, a text. Virginia recently enforced the law of cell phones not being permitted while driving; many have not realized this enforcement. Normally, police officers will not pull someone

Advancing technology in wireless communications is presenting a growing concern for distracted driving due to using cell phones and other electronic devices while driving. Although distracted driving accidents and fatalities have risen in the last decade, placing a ban on the use of a cell phone or other electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle as some states have will not resolve the issue. In fact a ban on cell phones and driving may very well increase the accident and fatality rate because drivers are now more involved with concealing their illegal behaviors. More citizen participation and drivers safety management should be more carefully considered in a transpiring situation such as this. More Americans should be