Essay on Texting and Driving vs. Drunk Driving

Texting while driving puts everyone in danger because it takes your attention away from the task of driving. According to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in 2015 there were 3,477 deaths and another 391,000 injuries caused by distracted driving in the United States, and that’s just in one year. While this

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.

Secondly texting while driving can put a loved one at risk. Texting while driving can put you and your passenger at risk. If you were to get in a accident because of texting and driving, you and your passenger can get hurt. In an article called 10 Programmatic Reason´s that will make you stop texting and driving right now it said ¨in

According to texting and driving statistics, every year, around 330,000 people die every year from texting and driving. This is around half of all the people who pick up their phones in the first place. Being on your phone draws your attention from the road, to your phone. Doisomething.org states, “When you text and drive you are 23 times more likely to get into a crash.” All it takes is a simple act of not watching the road. Being unaware while driving can put you, and other's lives at risk or injury or even death. This can affect your future, others around you, your friends, and your family. Texting and driving is a very big deal. Don't Text Drive states “5 seconds is the minimal amount of time a driver takes their eyes off the road. If you are traveling at 55 miles an hour, this would equal the length of a football field of not

“Text messaging … had the longest duration of eyes-off-road time of 4.6 seconds at a six second interval. This equates to a driver traveling the length of a football field at 55 miles per hour without looking at the roadway.” This statement was made by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute when they did a texting while driving study (“Skip Menu”). Texting while driving has become a large problem in the United States and it is growing. There are about 1,600,000 accidents per year as a result of texting while driving. Texting while driving has become a bigger problem for teenagers than drinking while intoxicated. In an article Delthia Ricks wrote for Newsday, she says:

Texting and many other forms of distracted driving such as eating, answering calls, and listening to loud music can be detrimental to how you drive. Of all these texting is arguably the most dangerous. Those who feel it 's not dangerous to text and drive think they are able to multi-task good enough behind the wheel to be able to text.  Well, this is

The most dangerous between texting while driving and driving under the influence is texting while driving. From 2002 to 2011, driving while intoxicated numbers went down and texting while driving numbers went up (Oberman). Texting while operating a vehicle raises the risk eight times higher to cause a wreck. If people choose drinking and driving, it raises the risk four times higher to cause a wreck (Driving). When people drive out on the roads doing either drinking while driving or texting while driving, a crash could occur at any time. People texting and driving makes themselves take their eyes off the road longer because people focus on the message received and try to think of what the response message will say. Drunk drivers usually tend to speed up or slow down, while texters tend to swerve across the centerline (Texting). A person

Seventy-five participants were evaluated in this study (p. 65). The participants were then divided into two age groups, novice and young adults (p. 65). All participants reported regular use of cell phones and texting during driving (p. 65). They were randomly assigned to conditions of texting while driving or having a cell phone conversation while driving (p. 65). During the simulated driving condition, there was an abundance of driving errors including; fluctuations in speed, lane deviance and lane change safety (p. 67). Both conditions of cell phone conversation and texting significantly affected driving performance in a negative way, between both of these conditions texting while driving was found to be the most detrimental (p. 67). Furthermore, these researchers concluded that age and experience made no difference when it came to accuracy of driving (p. 68). People often believe that due to their experience with texting and driving, it will have no negative effects on their driving. However, this study demonstrates otherwise. Experience with texting and driving provides no asset when it comes to distracted

While you may think that getting behind a wheel drunk is the most dangerous thing you could ever do, you are incorrect. Texting and driving increases your chances of a car accident by 6-fold compared to if you were to drive a car

A simple glance of a text on a cell phone can cause dangerous circumstances to oneself and to others. During this circumstance, a person’s mental state is changed. “The average text takes about five second to send. Traveling at 55 mph, that’s like going the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed,” (Held). The mindset of a person who is texting while driving are not realizing that they are driving but are just thinking about that text that they’ve received. They’re eyes are off the road and on their phone which automatically causes immediate situations. Along with their eyes not on the road, their hands are no longer on the wheel but on the keypad of their device. In the fact of these mental states of a driver, consequences are quickly met. Consequences include jail time, fines and fees similar to drinking and driving. “The severity of punishments increases

People should be cited for texting while driving because not only are drivers putting themselves in danger but also everyone else around them. Statistics have indicated that over 6,000 deaths and well over half a million injuries have occurred due to drivers using cell phones in 2011 alone. Drivers sending or receiving test messages take their eyes off of the road for at least five seconds which is enough time to cover an entire football field. One could only imagine the tremendous amount of damage that can be done driving across a football field with unopened eyes. “The more cognitive workload capacity that you consume, the less likely it is that you’re going to scan the road”

“According to a UK Transport Research Laboratory study commissioned by the Royal Automobile Club Foundation, motorists sending text messages while driving are "significantly more impaired" than ones who drive drunk. The study showed texters' reaction times deteriorated by 35%, with a whopping 91% decrease in steering ability, while similar studies of drunk driving indicate reaction time diminishment of a relatively modest 12%. By

Today, texting while driving out numbers the amount of drunk driving according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Texting while driving is six times more likely to cause a wreck than drunk driving. You are 23 times more likely to wreck if you are texting. Texting while driving is equal to driving bind for 5 seconds each text. Out of the worlds’ population of over 7 billion, at any given moment all over the world, over 800,000 drivers are texting. Drivers think they can handle looking away for a second to reply, or read a message. By doing this you are decreasing your break reaction time by 18% (national). “The concentration needed for safe driving makes texting safely at the same time impossible” (Bratsis 70). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (C.D.C.)

Texting and driving can also be dangerous because people could die. Not only that texting and driving causes distraction to where it increases the chances of you dying or getting into car accidents. On https://www.dmv.org/distracted-driving/texting-and-driving.php it says, “26% of all car crashes in 2014 involved cell phone use. At least 9 people are killed every day because of a distracted driver. More than 1,000 people are injured every day due to a distracted driver. In 2015 42% of teens say they have texted while driving—and

Texting while driving has developed into a growing danger amongst many drivers. Driving requires full attention at all times; moreover, texting impairs the drivers’ abilities, causing his or her reaction time to decrease dramatically. When his or her full attention is on the phone rather than on the road, the driver is unable to witness the traffic; therefore, causing a collision due to lack of focus. When both hands are on the phone texting, the driver easily loses control of the vehicle because of his or her inability to concentrate on the road. Improper driving is an unnecessary risk to