Texting While Driving Essay

We all are probably aware that texting and talking on the phone is a distraction to all drivers and can be very dangerous. Also, we all know there are many other distractions besides texting and driving, and any type of technology can cause a driver to be distracted. Forty-one percent of all drivers use their hands to text in the car while driving, according to Greg Gardner (52). It can cause people to forget about pedestrians or their surrounding areas. People who are distracted often aren’t focused and don’t have both hands on the wheel. According to Bryan Wilson, people may say that cell phones are easy to be pointed out as a problem, but statistics show the damage cell phones can do to a person while they are driving (6). According to Simon Usborne, time spent not looking at the road while talking on the phone is 15% of the time (68). Also, while texting and driving the time spent not looking at the road is 30% of the time (Usborne 69). As technology improves more and more people may feel the need to use their cell phones while driving. According to Melissa Healy, cell phone use can be as dangerous as drunk driving (42). Tests should be done to compare the various ways of sober people under the influence driving also to compare the impact of texting and driving. This would give us a better understanding of just how dangerous driving and being on our phone really is.

This includes the House Bill 1013 which went into effect back in October. It bans any driver of a motor vehicle to engage in text messaging. A few other states that ban the use of a cell phone while driving are Illinois, California, New York, and Indiana has a ban on any one under the age of 18.

“The reaction time of a distracted cell phone driver is more than 40% than those of an undistracted driver” (Hague).

Many accidents are blamed on distracted driving and most of the distractions are caused by cell phone usage. However, some opponents feel that creating a law against cell phone use infringes their personal rights. Others think that banning someone from using their cell phones is equivalent to telling someone that they can't adjust their radio or chat with someone else in their car. However, using a cell phone, whether talking or texting, while driving can be extremely dangerous; it should be made illegal because it is very hazardous to yourself and the people surrounding you, can lead to the death of loved ones, and it is even compared to the danger level of drunk driving. No matter what age the driver is, under no

Good morning everyone, today we call our world as busy world or multitasks world and with the rush-rush-rush mentality most people have these days; it's no surprise that more and more people are driving while distracted. Eating, talking or texting on a mobile phone, making adjustments to the radio, talking with passengers -- all take a driver's focus off of the road.

204 participants agreed to install video cameras and sensors in their vehicles for thirty-one days in a row, while providing their phone records for analysis. The results from the study showed that driving performance is directly influenced by how well drivers visually attend to the road. This visual attention is required in order to be aware of events as they occur. When the driver is distracted by looking at and manipulating a hands-held phone, their visual attention is substantially affected (NHTSA,

Most teens, and even adults, use their cellphones while they drive. They think a quick text or call won’t hurt while they are at a red light. They call it multitasking, and think that since they have a hand on the wheel they are fine. In the articles “How The Brain Reacts” by Marcel Just and Tim Keller, and “The Science Behind Distracted Driving” by KUTV, Austin they describe how the mind is working in the cellphone situation.

In today’s day and age, technology has drastically increased. People seem to rely on the use of their devices more than anything. Typically, whenever and wherever, everyone is engaged in some form of technology, cell phones in particular. From pagers, to car phones, to initial “flip-phones”, and now to smart-phones, people practically use up most of their daily time with these devices. Nowadays, a lot of people doesn’t even like to have phone conversations…they can deliver their entire thought through a simple text message. In some retrospect, that’s a very good thing; in others, it can be extremely crucial, especially when it comes to texting and driving. Texting and driving has been the leading cause of car accidents in the recent years,

The risks of distracted driving are great and lead to unfathomable results. According to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), there are three main types of distracted driving. The first is visual - taking your eyes off of the road. The second is manual- taking your hands off of the wheel, and the third is cognitive - taking your mind off of driving (CDCP). While all of these exist amongst distracted drivers, the major distraction for most people is visual and manual. For example, whether an individual is changing the radio or the most common and dangerous thing, texting; particularly because texting involves all three forms. It involves

Of the many effects that texting while driving has on an individual, the most profound impact is death and the toll it takes on close relatives.In Virginia, “a five month old baby,Tristan Schulz, was killed because of a driver that had his phone in his hand and got distracted” (A Baby Is Dead in Virginia. Now Will the State Do Something about Texting While Driving?” TWP).Avoidable deaths like this happen constantly due to the careless use of cellular devices on much traveled highways/roads.So many more lives could have been spared if only that one driver had simply chosen to wait until they were no longer driving.Another tragedy that resulted from texting while driving was the loss of Stephanie Phills,37,and 26, Heather Hurd’s life when a truck driver “reaching for his hand-held device to text his office,rammed into traffic at a stop light” (Bridget, and Lebovich N.p., n.d. Web)The truck driver stop to consider the

“A distracted driver may fail to see up to 50% of the available information in the driving environment. You may look but not actually “see” what is happening. Focus of the driver is not on the road or traffic and it becomes difficult to handle phone and vehicle at one time. Cell phones during driving also reduce the mental capacity of drivers as they fail to concentrate on minor or major activities happening around them. Cell phones distract drivers' attention resulting in comparatively slow response to traffic signals and other related traffic events. Studies have shown the fact that breaking reaction time is also slower while talking on a cell phone during driving. The perception, vision, general awareness, and concentration of the driver are impacted while communicating on a cell phone during driving. Especially during bad weather or driving on slippery roads, drivers engaging in conversation pay less attention to these areas increasing risks of fatal accidents.

Texting while driving is a controversial subject. The vast majority of people feel that texting while driving should be illegal. Most people also feel that legal actions need to take place to stop this behavior. However, I’m part of the small majority that disagrees with the main point of view. I believe that texting while driving shouldn’t be illegal and that states that have made it illegal need to repeal those laws. Texting while driving isn’t the true problem. The true problem is that people get distracted easily. So I believe that making texting while driving illegal doesn’t even solve the problem. Another reason why it shouldn’t be illegal is that people don’t follow laws as it is, and this can cause even more problems. Texting while driving should be the driver’s choice, not the government's choice.

Instead of a driving simulator that was used for the first two studies participants followed a car that would break at random. The ERPs were reduced by 50% when driver talked on the cellphones compared to the single task group. This supports the hypothesis that the participants are not encoding the information when distracted and less able to react. The fourth study looked and a hands free cell phone conversation but instead of the single task they had participants talking to a passenger when driving. The drivers with the passenger had about 88% of participants that completion and the dual task group had 50%. It is believed that the to people worked together to help the driver stay safe. It was hypothesized by the researchers that cell phones are distracting because of the idea that the central-processing bottleneck. The central-processing bottleneck is the idea that the brain has these two sources of information, and the brain is taking turns rather than doing two task at once. It implies that humans can not multitask, making phones and driving unsafe.

A word has started to appear in discussions of driving. The word is "distracted." It refers to drivers who pay more attention to their cell phones, or their text messages, than they do to driving. The results can be fatal. One of the most common distractions today is texting. Each day in the United States, 9 people are killed and more than 1,060 people are injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver (Center). A couple of months ago, I and a friend were sitting at a red light waiting on green. We were talking about making plans for later that evening. We decided what to do as soon as the light turned green, we waited on the car in front of us to ease off the line. Then we were hit. This turned into a five car pileup.

Due to a study simulation, it states that while driving, conversations cause you to lose your concentration and reaction time; when it’s needed in a few seconds or last. It is essential that you must not be distracted by passengers, conversations or handling your phone when driving. The National Safety Council had conducted a report that during the simulated driving tests, those who were always carrying a cell phone conversation were extremely distracted that they became unaware to a few traffic