The Pros And Cons Of Texting And Walking

People who text and drive can hit or even kill pedestrians because of being distracted by their phones and not paying attention to the road. In the course of five years, the national number of pedestrians who were killed or hit by distracted drivers increased from 344 to 500 people. If you think about it, many of those people who died could have been young children or elderly people who didn’t have a fault, but because of someone being so inconsiderate using their phone, they killed these people. In 2015, 5,376 pedestrians were killed because of drivers who were too busy texting. All those pedestrians who were killed did not think that because of walking somewhere they would be killed by someone so distracted who didn’t have the capacity to make sure that the road was clear for them to keep driving. If this problem had further consequences, then many of the people who died wouldn’t be dead right now.

Furthermore, ‘texting in cars and trucks causes over 3,000 deaths and 330,000 injuries per year as stated by a Harvard Center for risk study’ (Hanson n.p.). Just imagine all the lives that could be saved from deaths or injuries if people stop texting while driving because it is a major distraction for them. There belief is that they can multitask, but the sad reality is that the brain cannot do that. The brain has to focus in a particular task at a time. In order to do things right or correctly. Pennings a highway patrol helped demonstrate teens that texting while driving is a dangerous action. He made several so called “ Professional Texters” pass several obstacles while answering text messages and the results were not pleasing at all, cones were flying. The questions asked were not hard, yet they still manage to make the driver lose focus from driving. This is why implementing a rigorous law would come in handy. People will reconsider the thought of many things while being in their vehicles such as texting,eating and drinking, watching videos, putting makeup or grooming, etc. The states have not yet implemented a good law they only prohibit it during school zones or if a police officer sees you, but that is not enough.

State laws and policies on the ban of texting and driving are important to society because they prevent distracted driving, reduce the number of accidents that could result in death, and lessen the costs associated with accidents.

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.

Nearly 330,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving. According to Kiernan Hopkins, texting and driving is more likely to cause an accident than drunk driving. He also tells us that since the average speed in the US is 55 mph, taking 5 seconds to read a text in this time means that the driver travels the length of a football field without looking at the road. Officer Wil Sunderland from the Oklahoma City Police Department says the No Texting and Driving Law is working and 94% of people support and obey the law but 74% go against the law. People realize the outcome of texting and driving and know there can be punishment by law, which makes driver's put down their cell phones when the vehicle is in motion. Sunderland also informs us that with the help of Siri, drivers can keep their eyes on the road by using voice commands which can type and send messages, play music, make phone calls and more.

It’s time to stop texting while driving. Most of the accidents are accused of distracted driving and most of the distractions are most of the time caused by cell phones. However, some opponents feel that creating a law against cell phone use infringes their personal rights. Other people assume that prohibiting from someone from using their cell phone is the same thing in just like telling someone that they can't adjust their radio or chat with someone else in the car. However, using a cell phone, whether you are texting or talking, while driving can be extremely dangerous; That should be made illegal in the fact that it is very hazardous to

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

Moreover, In the middle of this issue, texting and driving has risen to the point where where people don 't like to see it, but still allow it to be in their presence. After all of these years of texting, people should feel like as a country there should be a point where it is almost forbidden to do so. To think about It, I don 't think ever when purchasing a cell phone I had my wireless provider representative mention anything about the hazards of texting and

Many people say that texting while driving bans are ineffective.People say that science technology got advanced they can stay in close contact with friends and family.However about 330,000 people die a year because of cell phones.Many people also believe that americans should wear virtual blinders while driving.I disagree with that because it will blind your eyes and it would be hard to do other things.Some adults think that that’s the only way that they ."The enforcement problem with texting while driving laws is enormous," Russ Rader of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, referring to a federal law prohibiting truck and bus drivers from texting, told the Washington Post.Russ Rader says this because texting is dangerous and a person

Amy Norton’s 2015 article, states that enforcing texting while driving laws saw a decline in auto related hospitalizations by seven percent. This difference in hospital visits was especially seen in states that made texting while driving a primary offense. If texting while driving is simply kept as a secondary offense, many people will continue to do it at the expense of other’s lives. If texting while driving laws become a primary offense everywhere, police officers can stop accidents before they even start. This alone would save countless lives. Since studies involving strict cell phone laws have already been conducted and proven successful, there would be no drawbacks to enforcing these strict laws everywhere in the United States. In fact, once strict and consistent cell phone usage laws are enforced everywhere, the benefits will surely be even

Many people, mainly teenagers, text while driving and don’t think to consider the safety of themselves and others. Some teenagers, just like Chelsea in the Dr.Phil’s, film “Texting While Driving”, come into some near tragic experiences because of texting while driving and still don’t consider what they are doing a safety hazard. Chelsea stated that nothing can stop her from texting while driving. I’m sure she is not the only person who feels that way. Many people enjoy the convenience of texting while driving and that’s all they focus on. Most “texters” don’t look into the fact that if you’re giving the your phone attention, you aren’t giving the road your full attention and you are putting yourself and others at risk

In page 10, at the end of paragraph 3, the author states “Between 2000 and 2011, distracted walking led to more than 11,000 injuries.in the U.S.” This means that people have been distracted by their phones while walking. And this led to to these people getting hurt because they were never aware from their surroundings and distracted with their heads down, looking at their phones the entire time. Texting and walking should definitely be banned because serious injury may occur. On page 10 it states, “In 2012, a 15-year-old on her phone was on her phone and was hit by a car and killed.”

One great reason they should ban texting while driving is because of what happens on the roads. For example, I found in article one that “more than nine people are killed everyday because of people that are distracted because of the cell phones.That being said this means over 1,153 people are injured every year while others are being distracted.”

While those who think that the law that bans texting while driving will solve the problem, I believe that it will only worsen the problem. The people who choose to follow the law most likely don’t care about texting and driving. So they probably wouldn’t text and drive even if it isn’t a law. However, those who are addicted to texting and driving will not stop just because a law is passed. In past events where similar situations have occurred, it has only backfired on our government and society. This situation I’m talking about is making certain drugs illegal. The government made drugs illegal believing it was going to help solve the crime rate, solve social problems, health, and hygiene. This clearly did not go as planned. It ended up creating gangs, private selling of different types of drugs, and crime rates increasing. I do agree that texting and driving is dangerous. However, I believe that texting and driving laws make the problem worse. People who still text and drive have to hide their phones lower on their laps than they normally would because it is illegal to text and drive. Since they have to put their phones lower on their lap, their reaction time increases. In some cases passing a law solves the problem, but in other cases , like texting while driving and making certain drugs illegal, the problem can possibly become worse.

There is 250 Million American who has a cell phone. Georgia house bill 23 would ban texting and talking drivers who are under 18 years old (Dickensheets N. Pag). Some people think that texting while driving should be unbanned because not everyone would be impaired when performing this task. However I think texting and driving should be banned because it costs too many injuries and death you see on TV and the news that are related to this.