Did you know that most wrecks today are caused by distracted drivers? Although, using cell phones are banned while driving, people still use them illegally, causing many wrecks. There are many ways to be considered as a distracted driver, such as texting, using a cell phone, talking to others in the car, grooming, watching a video, adjusting car settings, eating and/or drinking, and reading maps or books.
How has texting impacted the number of wrecks in the United States? “The government says that 3,092 people died in one year in “distractions- affected” crashes, a newly refined measurement meant to tally effect of texting, phoning or simply answering a cell while driving. There was one wreck every 11 U.S. traffic deaths.” www.content. usatoday.com. One way to end texting and driving is to educate others about the danger it causes. About 421,000 people were hurt in a car crash involving a distracted driver during the year of 2012. Overall, to stop wrecks that engage in texting is to either let others text for you or wait until you have reached you designated place to text back.
How has the cell phone ban law effect drivers’ behavior? Study show that people who talk on cell phones tend to be more unsafe drivers, says a new study from MIT that included a test drive. Studies also state that you can take the driver away from the cell phone but you cannot take the behavior away from the driver “www.news.sciencemag.org/2012/08/why-cellphone-bans-dont-work”. These also involve 108 people, equally divided into three age groups, which is in the age range of 20s, 40s, and 60s. As a result, if more people obey by the cell phone ban law while they are driving, their behavior as a driver will improve and they won’t be considered as a distract...
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...d thing to be considered as a distracted driver. It’s not safe to text and drive, to use a phone and drive, talk to others in the car with you and try to focus and drive, grooming, watching a video and try to drive, adjusting your car setting and try focusing driving, eating and/ or drinking, and neither is reading a book or map. You should either have someone do it for you or wait until you have reached you designated area to do the thing you would like to do. Most wrecks would not happen if people would have most of their focus on the streets and not on other things.
Works Cited
www.content. usatoday.com http://www.drdriving.org/articles/distracted.htm http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffdl28.htm www.news.sciencemag.org/2012/08/why-cellphone-bans-dont-work www.nydailynews.com/new-york/eating-driving-80-car-accidents-study-shows-article-1.427796
One day Chandler Gerber 23, of Bluffton collided with an Amish buggy back in April of 2012. A three year old boy and a five year old girl were killed. A 17 year old boy who was in critical condition died several days later. Chandler was sending a text that said “ I love you” to his wife when he caused the accident. Drivers who were texting were 23.2 times more likely to crash to those who weren’t texting (Cell Phones and Texting). The increasing amount of crashes caused from texting and driving and growing and becoming more of a problem. Distracted driving is an increasing problem in the United States resulting in many accidents, but a solution to the problem would be banning cellphones while driving.
These sort of programs have shown immense help in the number of fatalities on the road today. Along with these kinds of programs there have been several laws put in place that ban cell phone use while driving. In Syracuse, N.Y. there have been strict laws against handheld cellphone use and texting and driving, and they have been extremely effective (Copeland, 1). Law enforcement saw over 70% of texting driving put to a halt. Transportation secretary Ray LaHood said, “Over half a million people are said to be injured, and thousands more are killed in distracted driving accidents” (Copeland, 1).Another very effective campaign that will probably soon be known world-wide is “Phone in one hand, Ticket in the other”(Copeland, 1). Most people in todays world would be familiar with the “click it or ticket” phrase that has allowed people to be reminded to put on your seat belt. Just as this campaign reminds people to wear a seat belt the “Phone in one hand, Ticket in the other” is designed to remind drivers that it is far too dangerous to be interacting with your phone while driving (Copeland,
Studies also show drunk driving is actually statistically safer than texting and driving. In my observation as my family was traveling to Wisconsin, I put tallies on my notebook to record the results of passing drivers. The results were surprising in that 1 out of 8 kids and 1 out of 5 adults in passing cars were distracted while driving. These statistics are actually scary to me because I will never know which one will make a mistake when I am around them on the road. The negative effects this problem causes death and serious injury to themselves and others. It also effects the distracted drivers by placing others around them in harm. As more people text on the roads the drivers will get too familiar texting and driving. According to most statistics, that’s when most mistakes happen. Phone and car companies allow this behavior to happen simultaneously. Phone companies are making their product easier to be distracted, as the technology is addicting to use for the consumers. The notifications from the phone distract most humans from accomplishing their tasks. The phone pings or sounds and the driver looks down. Car companies are now installing Wi-Fi in the newest cars of our generation. The WI-FI is active for all passengers. The distraction element is also active for
The several effects of distracted driving are deadly. Andrew Lavallee points out that “texting while driving is unsafe. Not only are a driver’s eyes off the road, one or both hands are off the wheel.” “We think it is incompatible with safe driving” (qtd. in Lavallee). “Study upon study showed that talking on a cellphone was far more dangerous than she’d realized – that a driver on a phone had the same reaction speed as someone legally intoxicated, that those talking on a phone behind the wheel are four times as likely to crash” (qtd. in Hanes). Stephanie Hanes also mentions that, “Unlike a conversation with a passenger, the electronic conversation takes a driver into a virtual space away from the road.” Subsequently, this causes severe problems and deadly
Distracted driving is something really deadly but people don't really pay any mind to it. Distracted driving is when the driver is distracted by anything that could distract them. There are different types of distractions. There are visual, manual, and cognitive distractions. Visual distractions are when you take your eyes off the roads, manual is when your hands are being taken off the wheel, and cognitive is when your mind is being taken off of driving.There are a lot of things that could distract someone from driving. Some things would be eating, music, doing makeup, cell phones, and even messing with your radio or navigation systems. Cell phone use is a major cause of distracted driving. 1 out of every 4 car accidents are caused by distracted
Distracted driving is a prominent issue that continues to grow. Whether it is eating, using electronics, fixing hair or makeup, or adjusting the vehicle’s controls, it seems like everyone is guilty of taking his or her focus off the road at some point. How many times have we been enraged to see the driver next to or in front of us do something foolish such as cut people off or pay no attention to stoplights because they are engrossed in a telephone conversation? How many instances have we seen someone flying down the road performing a crazy task like reading a newspaper or eating a sandwich? On how many occasions have we done something like this?
Have you ever been on a cell phone while driving or seen someone on his or her cell phone while driving? This is distracted driving at its finest. Whether you are looking at a text, changing radio stations, applying makeup, or anything else that takes your mind or eyes off the road is distracted driving. Distracted driving killed around 3,000 people in 2011 (Bauers). Car crashes are the leading cause of teenagers in the United States. If you don’t think you are distracted behind the wheel think again, many people think they aren’t distracted till something bad happens to them, like a crash, driving into a ditch, or running a red light and get a ticket for it. Distracted driving is a major problem and most people don’t know their distracted or what is a distraction to him or her.
The use of cellphones has become more popular with every passing year, causing many people to become physically and emotionally attached to their cellphones. American society today is constantly on the phone, from texting, to calling, to surfing the web, to even taking pictures; people seem to never put their phones down. Since the use of cells phones is skyrocketing, it has brought up an issue that the use of these devices while behind the wheel increases accidents (Hahn and Preiger par. 1). People don’t realize how distracting a cellphone can really be. Distracted driving is defined as, “driving a vehicle while engaging in an activity that has the potential to distract the driver from the task of driving”(dictionary. reference.com). Almost everyone owns a cellphone today, causing distracted driving to become a big issue (Driven to Distraction par. 1). When a driver is distracted from driving they are unaware of the things happening in their driving environment. Using a cellphone while driving causes drivers to become distracted from driving physically, visually, cognitively and from their auditory senses.
New technologies that are interactive are increasingly becoming sources of distractions, and people are becoming more focused to devices resulting to reduced focus on the roads when behind the wheel. This distracted driving is becoming an alarming issue on the roads.
Cheng, Cheng. "Do Cell Phone Bans Change Driver Behavior?." Economic Inquiry 53.3 (2015): 1420-1436. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.
Talking on a phone or texting is acutely menacing and dangerous. The CDC states that more than half the deaths related to driving are caused by distracted driving such as Speaking or texting. This year a little more than 3,000 people were killed and about 400,000 were injured, writes the NHTSA. In their annual report it is also written that, It takes only seconds of distraction for a crash, and the likelihood of crashing while texting in increased by 23x, while for talking on a phone only expands the risk by only 2. Many people think that nothing will happen to them, and that texting and chatting on a phone is not dangerous, However accidents placed 4th for the number of kills last year, behind Heart Attacks, Respiratory Illnesses, and Cancers.
Over the past two decades the use of cell phones has grown significantly and statistic from the past two years have proven that driving while on the phone or texting is becoming one of the leading causes of traffic accidents today. In 2011, a survey of more than 2800 American adults revealed that even thought they know that using a cell phone or texting while driving is distracting, they do it anyway, and teens surveyed admit that texting while driving is their number one distraction. "Each year, 21% of fatal car crashes involving teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 were the result of cell phone usage. This result has been expected to grow as much as 4% ...
According to Ian Mulgrew, a journalist/author from Canada, many accidents are blamed on distracted driving and most of the distractions are caused by cell phone usage (Mulgrew). This shows that accidents are being caused by texting and driving. A majority of people have busy lives that leaves them to get things done while on the road. Texting or using a cell phone while driving is very hazardous to yourself and the people surrounding you. Most people are against this action is because it causes many car accidents every year. Did you know that texting while driving is one of the longest eyes-off-the road time of distracted driving activities? According to DWI, text messaging makes a crash up to 23 times more likely. While other activities like, dialing, talking or listening or reaching for a device is less likely. While driving, adults and teenagers cannot resist the urge to pick up their cell phone and send a text or respond to one. When a
Distracted driving: the practice of driving a motor vehicle while engaged in another activity. Anything besides focusing on the road can be considered distracted driving. Most people would think that the only real distraction while driving is the use of a cell phone, however, that is entirely untrue. There are people that give the term, distracted driving, a whole new meaning. People do everything from fixing their makeup to shaving while driving in their cars. Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of car crashes in the United States.
First and foremost, the risk of using a phone while driving is a big chance of an accident more than what the people think. According to the Harvard study “Texting while driving and other forms of distracted driving are responsible for more than 1 million crashes, 400,000 injuries, and 3,000 deaths in the U.S. each year—and those numbers are likely to in...