Reading, Driving While Stupid, By Dave Barry

I personally have never been a victim of distracted driving; however, I have witnessed many of my peers drive while distracted and the experience can be a frightening one. I was in the passenger seat of my friend’s car. As we were driving home, I noticed a car directly in front of us begin to sway left and right, dangerously crossing from one lane to the next. My friend clearly took notice of the reckless driving as well because he slowed down to gain some distance between us and the inattentive driver. After turning at an intersection, the car crossed into oncoming traffic, consequently crashing into another vehicle. We later discovered that the person irresponsibly driving the car was a student at our high school and that they were texting while driving. Furthermore, no person was fatally harmed

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.

Distracted driving is a major problem on the roads today. Not only is distracted driving dangerous for the driver himself but also for other people who happen to be on the same roads as them. The Annual AAA Foundation traffic safety culture index reports that 81.1% of drivers believe distraction is a serious problem and is a behavior that makes them feel unsafe

All over the United States people are driving while distracted by one thing or another.

One of the biggest rites of passages in the United States at the age of 16 is obtaining a driver’s license. The freedom to roam the open road and explore the world around you in most cases is a joyous occasion. At 16, a young inexperienced driver is constantly conveyed that driving is a privilege and one must use caution or that privilege will be taken away. However, over the past few years one of the growing problems in United States not only affects young drivers but drivers of all ages. Distracted driving is a growing problem in the United States that affects not only people of all ages but race, and gender as well.

“Driving while Stupid” is an article by Dave Barry that addresses the crazy thing people do while driving. In this article, Dave talks about his personal experience of reckless driving. One example includes how people in Boston drive as if they trying to jump through an open drawbridge. He talks about how people in Italy drive as if they shouldn’t drive behind any other driver and how they are trying to pass each other. Dave talks about how people in Argentinean drive fast even inside parking garages. Also, how they drive at night with their headlights off to extend the life of their bulbs. He even discussed how the bus driver in China would sometimes push people out of the way with the bus. Dave then explains that these are nothing compare

In 2014, 2,179 people were killed, and 431,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers. This trend is being continued by the younger and newer generation, as distracted driving has been a big temptation for teens. Eighty-six percent of the eighty-two percent of American teens who own cell phones have admitted to either being on a call or responding to a text while driving. It’s even more alarming that as of 2014, seventy-seven percent claim that they are confident that they can handle distractions while driving. Distracted driving is pretty explanatory; the process of being distracted while driving any motorized vehicle. Anyone can be part of a distracted driving incident; it can be the driver, the passengers in the vehicle and even other people in surrounding vehicles. There are a few ways to make sure drivers would be able to drive and give their complete attention to the road, such as educating the public, and restricting the inattentiveness of the driver. However, it is necessary for the states to enforce laws that reduce distracted driving because frequent multitasking can have a negative effect on the brain’s ability to focus, and distracted driving puts the safety of the driver and the people around them at risk.

Sometimes when I’m driving I see people swerving and going out of their lane, and think to myself “What the heck. Are they drunk?”. But when I pass by them I realize that they’re not drunk, but they are on their phones. This is a very frequent issue I see much too often that shouldn’t be as big of an issue as it is. First of all it is against the law to do this, especially in California. Second of all, you are much more likely to get into an accident when you’re driving distractedly. Lastly, it’s not just your life that is at stake.

Distracted driving has been a problem ever since driving has been around. Distracted driving can come in many different forms such as texting, talking on the phone, eating and drinking, grooming oneself, changing the radio, and holding

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

Virtually anyone who has a driver’s license has been introduced to the idea that distracted driving causes accidents. However, the consequences of distracted driving are far more than just predictable and often taken lightly. Predictable events can be avoided. Since these are predictable events they are preventable. The choices that drivers make affect more people than they may realize, thus making them responsible for the consequences that result from those choices. On a daily basis more than 15 American deaths and another 1,200 injuries are attributed to drivers that are distracted while driving on the very roads most of us use every day (Harvard Men’s Health Watch, page 7). Distractions can be

Thomas McGovern, the representative for highway safety as well as the executive director of the Massachusetts Governors Highway Safety Bureau, wrote the article titled “Don't Drive Distracted” for a Massachusetts Community College Journal (2013). The purpose of this article is simply to address issue of distracted driving and its consequences and increasing the awareness on this dilemma (2013). According to this article, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported “3,331 people killed in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2011, compared to 3,267 in 2010” (2013). Furthermore, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) states that young people are most at risk for distracted driving as “18- to

Driving is one of the many luxuries we have available in this country. According to the Federal Highway Administration, there are over 210 million licensed drivers in the United States. Of those 210 million motorists how many do you think are distracted right now? It is true that the number one cause of distracted driving stems from hand held devices such as: cell phones, radios, iPad, food, make-up, books, and ect. According to the National NPA, 80% of drivers rate distracted driving as a very serious threat to their safety; texting while driving has the highest crash risk of all forms of distracted driving; drivers using a hand-held device are four times more likely to cause a crash serious enough to cause injury; an estimated

In Florida distracted driving has become a big problem over the years. People are aware of the dangers of being on their phone when driving, but still go on their phone despite that. People don’t fully understand the dangers until they get into an accident themselves. Sergeant Kim Montes said “They don’t think it’s that big of a deal until an emergency happens, until that car pulls out in front of you (or) a motorcycle pulls out in front of you.”. People also aren’t concerned about getting fined for using their phone while driving. They know they will easily be able to get away with

I do not know how many times I have been driving down the road when someone does something stupid, ranging from pulling out in front of me or tailgating. More and more drivers enter the road every year and it seems as if less and less of them know how to drive.