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Dangers of using mobile phones while driving
The effect of texting and driving
The effect of texting and driving
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In America if you drive for long enough it will become a common occurrence to see people messaging from their cellphones in the midst of driving. Many drivers engage in texting and driving without contemplating the potential detrimental effects of their actions. The entrance of iPhones, Androids, and other smart phones in the modern world have led to hundreds of billions of texts sent in a single year. Texting has turned into one of the largest distractions that people struggle with today. The second that a phone vibrates or rings, it becomes the main concern and everything is forgotten, even something as high of a priority as driving. Trying to juggle the acts of texting and driving can be very dangerous, since the two events are equally demanding and require full attention. …show more content…
There are three main types of distraction that the average person faces while driving. Visual, which is taking your eyes off the road, can include rubbernecking, which is slowing down to observe a car accident on the side of the road. Manual, which is taking your hands off the wheel to do something like applying cosmetics, such as makeup, or going to change the radio station or song to one that fits your liking. The last one is cognitive, taking your mind off of driving, which can be just simply talking with the other passengers in the car or day dreaming when you’re by yourself in traffic on your commute home. While being a distracted driver your brain is unable to do the activities you are juggling well. For example, it is nearly impossible to read a book and have a phone conversation. Drivers must recognize and be aware of all the numerous hazards that are present in all driving environments. Being distracted or inattentive impacts your ability to recognize, react, and avoid the various hazards mentioned
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
Most of the drivers are likely to mix up driving and messaging from their cell phones while driving regardless of the laws standing on the issues, and danger posed to them. A majority of those drivers engaging in this act do not contemplate the possible detrimental effects from their actions. Research has indicated that texting while driving contributes to road accidents significantly. This situation is sufficiently bad to the extent that there are more accidents caused by messaging while driving than those caused by drunken driving (Fumento n.p.). From the foregoing statements, this essay seeks to support the laws, which outlaws texting while driving by highlighting how dangerous it is for drivers to massage while driving.
Distracted driving refers to a wide range of conditions involving the driver of the vehicle not being alert and attentive to the task of driving. These distractions can mean anything from texting and making phone calls to eating and other activities. Driving a motor vehicle while simultaneously being engaged in a different task can and is a fatal mistake that
No matter how good of a driver someone is, or how long someone has had their license, it is still not safe for people to text while drive. Earl K. Miller, Picower Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, told Foxnews.com, “It is difficult for pretty much everyone to do several things at once. In fact, studies have shown that people who have the most confidence that they can multitask are actually the worst at it,” (“The dangerous psychology of texting while driving” Para. 7). With Miller saying this, it shows that even if people think they are a good enough driver, and can multi task while they are driving, are not as good as they think, and can cause many crashes and problems while driving, and possible
Driving while distracted threatens your safety, other’s safety and your auto insurance rates. With a little diligence, you can increase your focus behind the wheel.
What is considered to be distracted driving in today’s world, is it just using devices or talking. Well in research article from BMC Public Health, “DD is an activity that can take a driver’s eyes off the road and divert his/her attention to something else”. Distracted driving includes but is not limited to using a mobile device, using a GPS, personal hygiene, talking to passengers, reading, even just adjusting the radio/stereo and list goes on and on. So how do adults and teen drivers classify these, well it is broken down in to 3 different parts. Visual, Manual, and Cognitive. Each equal having a negative effect on adult and teen drivers, cause them to become a DD. These three categories of DD, as found in Maclean’s Magazine, that each one has a certain effect on adult and teen drivers causing them to lose focus on the road in which makes them unaware of their surroundings. The Visual side is anything that cause the adult or teen driver to take their eyes off the road in which causing them to place their eyes on something else. The Manual side is in which the adult or teen driver takes his/hers hands off the wheel for something else in which takes control of motor vehicle away from driver.
Many drivers believe that there is only one way of being distracted on the road. However, there are many. Let me break it down into
Texting and driving involves all three types so you can predict the outcome isn’t too much in our favor (Distracted Driving, 2015). According to the National Safety Council (NDC), the big myth today is that people are capable of multitasking, and even worse multitask while driving, but in fact, the human brain cannot do such a thing. People may be walking and chewing gum at the same time, but that is because those actions involve both a thinking task, and a non-thinking task. Driving and talking on the phone at the same time is risky though because it requires both to be used. Instead of attending to both actions simultaneously, the brain quickly shifts between two cognitive activities (The Great Multitasking, 2010). Taken from a new report from the NSC ,drivers that tend to talk on cell phones often enter a state of what is called “inattention blindness” and when this occurs, they may fail to see up to 50 percent of what is ahead of them (NSC Looks Inside, 2010). The United States Department of Transportation says, "text messaging while driving creates a crash risk 23 times higher than driving while not distracted,” (Distracted Driving, 2015). That makes driving
First, texting while driving can cause a driver to be distracted. Texting by far is the most alarming distraction because it requires you full attention. It requires the driver
Each day in the United States, over 8 people are killed and 1,161 injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver (Distracted Driving). There are a few different
One of the dangers of texting while driving at the same time is the attention it takes away from the road. A driver, who is focused on looking at their phone, is not paying enough attention to other cars or what is happening around them. Something as simple as a car stopping in front of them can cause serious damage to the driver and to the other car. “Texting” while driving is the act of composing, sending, or reading text messages, email, or making other similar use of the internet on a mobile device while operating a motor vehicle, such as an automobile, truck, or train (Reuters). Many people and authorities have viewed it as a dangerous practice. It is on occasion like this, where familiarity with the road and surrounding will not make it easier for the driver to look at their cell phone. The probabilities of drivers texting on the cell phone and getting into accidents are only getting higher. Cell phone use while driving accounts for a major cause of
Almost million and half deaths and over 50 million of injuries happened due to road crashes that cost vast sum of money estimated by us $518 billion yearly( Who, 2009). These crashes have occurred because of several factors, distracted driving is one of them. Identifying the causes that lead to crashes is considered by researchers, trying to eliminate or tackle the contributed factors. Previous researches defined driver distraction as " the diminished attention of the driver to the driving task" (1). In the past10 years, to many efforts have been made to consider driving inattention or distraction; US and the EU did most of those efforts ( Beanland, Fitz, 2012).
This is an important issue because of rising of crashes in the United States that are distracted drivers related. Sundeen noted that 34,400 people get killed every year in the United States because of distracted drivers (Sundeen, 2008). Distracted driving could cost the lives of other people who are on the road. Cell phones are one of the most common distractions that divide drivers’ attention from the road. At the same time, the number of cell phone users are still growing and danger on the road is also growing.
Texting while driving can be a very risky and dangerous thing. For example, when Alexander, a student
The main distraction of driving is cell phones. Most adults and teens will engage in texting and driving. Due to the major issue of texting and driving many campaigns have been launched, one being launched by AT&T “when it comes to texting and driving, it can wait.” This campaign has many drivers take the pledge to no longer use their phone when driving, there is an available app that will send out automatic messages to anybody that sends a while the individual is driving. When someone is driving at the rate of 55 miles per hour for only 4.6 seconds, it will equal the length of a football field, 100 yards. So, even stopping full vision from the road for a few seconds will still risk serious danger. Another cause of distracted driving is being exhausted or tired, doing so will cause a much slower reaction time. The slower reaction time causes many of the accidents that happen when people are tired. Another possibility is falling asleep behind the wheel even for a few seconds you could drift, or swerv into another lane and hit another car causing a major or fatal car accident. When taking driving classes, the students within the class will hear the saying “stay alert, stay alive.” The final major distraction of driving is eating and drinking. One of the problems of eating and drinking while driving is that it causes both a visual and manual distraction. When removing your eyes from the road many dangers will be