Being able to drive is a dream come true, that can easily become a nightmare that you are never wake up from. The state of Florida is trying to make drivers aware of the dangers that come with distracted driving. Texting and driving is one of the biggest problems America is facing at the moment. Many people, especially teenagers, are dying from distractive driving. The state of Florida decided that they wanted to help with this problem and made it illegal to text and drive. They have also put up billboards all over the state to remind drivers about the law and the consequences of distractive driving. Not only could you be harming yourself but you could also harm others if you decide to text and drive. Do us all a favor and put your …show more content…
There have been television commercials about the deadly effects of distracted driving, the state made it illegal to text and drive, and while driving there are billboards to remind you. Florida has done its part to try to keep you safe, now it’s up to you. Florida is the second worst state for distracted driving. Yes, there is a law that states texting and driving is illegal but it’s not enforces as much as it should be. After researching, I found that no points are added to your license after the first offense, two points are added to primary offense (e.g.speeding) if texting occurred in a school zone, and six points are added to your license if the texting offense resulted in a crash. The law also states that in order to get in trouble for this offense you must have committed two offenses. That caught the attention of the civilians and they are now wondering how effective this law actually is. Knowing that you’re able to get away with very minor penalties with that law, people are worried that others may not respect this law like it needs to be. People are wanting to improve the law to make it stricter which is understandable but everything takes time and Florida is doing the best they can with the hand they got dealt. When people enter the car they don’t think about getting into an accident. Nobody expects to be hit from distractive driving but it does happen. The state of Florida is doing everything in
Get rid of the distraction. Sometimes this is possible to get rid of distractions, but the law can’t stop someone from talking to a passenger in the car or eating and drinking. Schools and training can only do so much to prevent distracted driving and almost half of those drivers ignored what is being told to them about the facts and warnings about the dangers of texting and driving. Nationwide only 44 states have banned drivers from texting and driving. These states are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado. Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, MIchigan, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. These states also have penalties and the maximum goes from a low 25 dollars to a high 10,000 dollars.
First of all texting while driving is a dangerous and risky thing to do in our society. Texting while driving is illegal in almost all states. People are realizing how dangerous it can be and making it illegal. In an article called distracted driving only two states, Arizona and Montana had no bans on cell phones while driving and only one state had a partial ban which was Missouri. Everybody else had a full ban on texting and driving. In an article called 10 Programmatic Reasons that will make you stop texting and driving today, it said “As the correlation between auto accidents and texting while driving escalates, many municipalities and states are passing legislation making it illegal to text and drive.” This basically is explaining how texting while driving is becoming illegal in almost every state. The punishment for the first couple of times will just be a $100 fine but will increase if you're a repeat offender.. But do you really want to spend $100 on a fine when you could spend it on a new pair of shoes or your kid? Texting while driving is illegal and you can be fined.
Texting and driving was banned in 2011 in Indiana because of the overabundance of car accidents that involved cell phones and distracted driving. With this law in place, people thought that it would work and that people would stop using them while driving. This was not the case, however. In Indiana with the texting and driving ban there have only been, “fewer than 400 tickets written as of mid-2014” (Gormley 89). This is not surprising because cell phones are so modest that they are easily missed when police drive by cars. Texting and driving bans are used to better driving accidents, but are not always used to their full extent. On page 89 of "Indiana's Texting-While-Driving Ban: Why Is It Not Working and How Could It Be Better?", Gormley stated, “As it stands today, Indiana’s texting while driving statute contains gaping loopholes, which leave drivers free to engage in risky behaviors with little fear of legal repercussions” (Gormley 89). A loophole they have to get around are actually being able to see the driver texting while driving. Texting and driving bans are newer and do not have all the kinks worked out, but if more states begin using them they will become better used. Putting more of these bans into use will be able to work on all the kinks and better them to use to be more effective and save more lives.
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
Web. 15 Apr. 2016. .” that distracted driving is by any mental or physical activity that the driver’s is focus, while she or he is driving and is off task. Under, the “Florida State Statute 316.305” its prohibits the driver to text and drive at the same time. But, this rule and laws hasn’t been followed and listen, so the Florida need to in force it and put a message saying the following: “Anyone who’s seem or caught violating the Florida State Statute under 316.305, will be force to pay a fee of $500-800 dollars. So, remember to listen and obey the laws; so together we can save more life’s. And, decreased the accidents of distraction driving.” This, will help the state of Florida to decreased the accidents of distraction driving. Also, it will be the state with the least death occur; because of a distracted driver’s. So, remember our state of Florida is already doing and practicing to prevent distracting driving, but Florida is not doing enough to prevent
This is hardly a law that cracks down on the many offenders. Drivers who choose to distract themselves while driving are putting everyone else on the road at risk, including your family members. There are pregnant women, infants, families, and school buses teeming with children on the road every day, and the only thing protecting them is a secondary offense. The law only covers texting while driving as well, a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety claims that there are three sources of driver’s distraction: Visual (eyes off the road), Manual (hands off the wheel), and Cognitive (mind off the task) (Hamilton). Texting isn’t the only distraction, any task that takes a driver’s focus away from driving is considered a distraction. For example, listening to the radio, conversing over the phone or with a passenger, and using a hands free system. Even talking to your baby in the back seat is a distraction. The Florida Department of Transportation needs to make distracted driving a primary offense, in order to protect our families on the
When it comes to the topic of distracted driving most of us will readily agree that distracted driving isn’t violence. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of whether or not distracted driving is violence. Where some are convinced that they are, other maintain that they are not. Technology is the most distracting item out on the streets, highway, parkway, etc. The Florida state made a law saying while texting and driving you will get a ticket, because they consider that as dangerous, or talking on the phone. Your eyes should be on the road at all times so you wouldn’t hurt anybody. Read more to figure out if distracted driving is violent or not.
We know that Florida ranks second only to Louisiana for distracted driving. Almost 50,000 car accidents were credited to distracted driving last year. Approximately 37% of the drivers say they text and drive. Law enforcement officials should be more aware of what people behind the wheel are doing. People ought to have consequences for their actions. If using an electronic device while driving, receiving a ticket, in addition to having your license suspended for 30 days would make one think before attempting to operate a motor vehicle. The second time one is pulled over for using an electronic device while operating a motor vehicle the consequence should be severer, for instance losing a driver’s license for at least a year. According to Florida law, police are forbidden from stopping drivers specifically for cell phone use since texting while driving is not a primary offense. This is completely unacceptable, however, if the police commenced pulling people over for being distracted whilst driving there
In today’s world accidents are a thing of recurrence, a huge portion of Florida’s accidents are caused by distracted driving. According to Florida Highway and safety motor vehicles. More than 45,740 Car crashed where caused in 2016 by distracted driving in the state of Florida. More than 24,560 injuries were caused by this as well. What if all even half these accidents could be prevented by laws being better enforced or by there being more driver awareness. According to Text’nDrive Florida has no major law to enforce texting and driving or other distracted driving. 30$ this is the average fine for distracted driving, 30$ for doing something extremely dangerous that could not only injure you but injure others. However law makers feel 30$ is
Distracted driving is an issue among many age groups, although the problem is mostly seen with teens. Texting isn’t the only distraction that is seen while driving, but it is one of the immense ones. Crying children, trying to fix a radio station and alcohol are also factors that could affect you attention on the road and lead to an accident. Texting while driving takes your eyes and hand off of the road for approximately five seconds to read and reply to a text, making it easy to lose control of your car. Florida does have a cell phone and texting driving law, but most of the time it isn’t evident that texting while driving was a distraction until it is too late. A driver can only be charged if they are arrested for another motor violation. The best way to prevent an accident due to texting and driving is to not do it.
Texting while driving can cause you to lose your parents, siblings, or even worse your life. Texting while driving in florida is illegal but we don’t enforce the law enough. I think there should be a camera at every red light to check and see if there is people texting and driving. If there caught texting and driving the cops will automatically be called, the camera will take
1 in every 4 car accidents in the US is caused by distracted driving according to recent statistics. Distracted driving is a huge problem among teens and adults across the country. In the state of florida, texting while driving is only listed as a secondary offense and has not been banned. Some people may claim that texting while driving is a choice and that people would do it regardless of the law. However, I believe that the state could do more to protect people from the accidents caused by distracted driving if they banned texting and driving in general throughout the state. The state does not do enough to prevent people from driving while distracted.
Driving while driving has become a major problem across the country. We are losing too many mothers, fathers, son, and daughters due to drivers being distracted with their cells texting. Nineteen states including the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) have banned it. The Transportation
In Florida, they do not protect people against distracted driving. The laws there, have been established as a secondary offense. Plus, the law
Texting and driving is against the law because “In 2012 Alabama became the 38th state to ban texting while driving.” (http://www.drivinglaws.org/alabama.php) also “Novice drivers in Alabama- drivers aged 16 or 17 with an intermediate license less than 6 months- are banned from from using cell-phones (both handheld and hands-free) and, like all drivers, banned from texting. Even the bus drivers are banned from texting while driving.”(http://www.drivinglaws.org/alabama.php) Not only that but there are also fines you can get for texting and driving and those penalties are “Fines for texting and driving are $25 (first offense) then $50 and $75. A driver will also be penalized with two points against the driver’s license. Alabama’s cell phone and texting laws are considered “primary” laws. A primary law means that an officer can pull a novice driver for texting without having to witness some other violation. That is, the officer sees the novice driver texting and simply issues a citation.” (http://www.drivinglaws.org/alabama.php)