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Should driving while texting be illegal
Should driving while texting be illegal
How dangerous is driving and texting
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Each year, an average of 1.6 million crashes happen from texting while driving. Thirty-three hundred thousand are injured, and 3,000 die from texting while driving. (“Texting while driving”). Each state has texting bans to some degree but is not enforced enough. (Stim). A lot of people say it should not be banned because they should have the right to text whenever they want. (“Please, Don’t ban texting”). However, countless lives are being either killed or permanently scarred. Texting while driving should be banned in all states because it is dangerous.
Texting can get you in an accident. Though bans are placed across the whole United States, it seems as if no one is following them. At the University of Alabama at Birmingham School for Public Health a study was done showing that after driving bans were put in place, deaths only dropped 11%. (Wyatt). A blogger has said that they think driving has gotten more dangerous because instead of holding their phone up where everyone can see it, they hold it closer to their lap so they don’t get a fine. Holding the phone in your lap is worse that holding it up because your eyes are not even watching the road. (“New study shows”).
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About 80% of teens have cell phones. 77% say they can text and drive confidently and safely. 55% of teen drivers say that they think it’s easy to text and drive. Teens who text and drive spend 10% of the time outside of the driving lane. The safe time to look away from the road is 2 seconds, but the time it takes to send a simple text is 5 seconds. (Edgin). A study was done where someone drove 55 mph for 5 seconds. The car had gone the length of a football field in that time. (Edgin). There was this girl named Amanda and she looked away for just seconds and she crashed. She lost an eye and had several face reconstructions. She says that when she look in the mirror she is always reminded of that dreadful day.
In the article “Should Text Messaging while Driving Be Banned? NO!” the author shares exceptionally valid points for his argument and I believe that outlawing texting while driving would prove to be disastrous. Radley Balko wrote this article to explain the appalling outcome of banning texting while driving, however, he does not advocate that everyone should look at their phones with glee while operating a motor vehicle. We must also promise ourselves to never let the glowing screens of our cellular devices captivate our attention or be more important than safely operating a motor vehicle.
This article shows both sides of the “Texting While Driving “debate. The article talks about how banning texting while driving could be a good thing. It states that countless of fatal car crashes have been caused by texting motorists. It also gives information on why banning texting while driving could be a bad thing mainly because it is a law that is hard to enforce. This article does a very good job of portraying both views. It is chock full of facts, quotes and studies that support each argument.
The Harvard Center of Risk Analysis preformed a study, they studied the road and people who text while they drive. Results show that texting behind the wheel causes 330,000 injuries and 2,600 deaths a year. People who talk or text on the phone are just as impaired or even more impaired as a drunk driver. A study was performed at the University of Utah, it shows that the participants crashed when they were texting while driving but when they were intoxicated, they did not crash. This shows that texting while driving takes your focus off of the road and into the conversation you are having on the phone. Also, the University of Utah has proven that hand free devices do not make driving any safer. But, driving with passengers and talking to them makes drivers safer. Passengers help inform drivers of possible risks on the
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.
The cell phone provider known as AT&T has produced several commercials to show the dangers of texting and driving. These are designed to grab people’s attention and to touch them in a small place in there heart to the point that they no longer feel the need to pick up their phone in the car. They stress over and over the dangers of reading just one text. There have even been safety precautions placed in teens vehicles that record them as well as the road while they are driving to catch any of this distracted behavior. As Americans have seen an increase in the amount of texting and driving there have been several of the 50 states that have put laws in place to help try and put a reduction on the amount of fatalities. The devastating part about this kind of distraction is that nearly every person that has owned a cell phone has picked it up at some point while they are driving to make a phone call or send a quick text. They have seen the commercials and they know the hurt that it has caused many families loosing someone they love, but we still to do it anyways. It’s so easy to tell yourself “It’s just one quick text, I will be fine.” At some point we need to realize this is not
David Hosansky states that the use of cell phones and texting should not be allowed while driving. The increased uses of cell phones and texting while driving has become the center of safety conversations. In fact, there are more than 5,000 deaths related to the use of cell phones and texting while driving over the last decade. Even if laws were put in place it is believed that motorists would still find it hard to put down their phones down. Hosansky also gave an example on the hazards of texting while driving, especially among young drivers. There are very few states that have implemented laws restricting the use of cell phones or texting while driving. David Hosansky is a freelance writer in the Denver area. This article seems to have been written for the general public and thought to be informative. I found this especially helpful and informative in finding this is not just a local problem.
Texting while driving is national growing trend, and it is quickly becoming one of the country’s top killers. Most drivers think they can manage to text and drive and still stay safe on the roads; however, the numbers do not lie! According to the National Safety Council, 1,600,000 accidents per year are caused by someone who was texting and driving. Laws and penalties for this act are too lax, and tougher laws should be enforced.
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
Car crashes due to texting while driving is a widespread epidemic that has taken our nation by storm for more than a decade ago. People may think they can safely write text messages on their phone while driving, or just do not think there is any real risk in the act does not matter. Texting while driving must be done away with at all costs. To achieve this fit, our government must take action by adding uniformity to the laws and impose punishments on the offenders. Similarly, it is also important that the government provides sufficient educational programs. This will help spread the message about the dangers of tapping the phone’s keyboard while behind the wheel.
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% ...
Even though texting and driving is against the law, men and women of all ages are doing it on a regular basis. Statistically speaking, 23% of car accidents, which was about 1.3 million, involved cell phones in 2011 (“Texting and Driving..”). According to Edgar Snyder and Associates Law Firm out of Western Pennsylvania, “In 2011, 3,331 people were killed and 387,000 people were injured in accidents involving a distracted driver.” Along with those stats, and according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, “texting and driving kills 11 teens each day” (“Texting and Cell Phone..”). These numbers show how fatally dangerous texting and driving can be. As mentioned earlier, it is illegal, so humans shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. However, if someone gets caught, they could be looking at a ticket costing about, 135 dollars, not including the additional base fine, surcharge and the law library fee (“Texting and Driving, Challenges..”). If a person chooses to text and drive and...
Teenagers don’t want to be inconvenient with having to wait to respond to their friends about the latest party or school event that’s coming up. Driving is just as good of time as any to text their best friends about the upcoming weekend or update their Facebook status in the mind of a young adult. Even though most teens know they shouldn’t text and drive many are guilty of doing it several times a day. An overwhelming 75% of teens even admit to text messaging while driving (“Distracted Driving,” 2016). Young drivers are more likely to get into an accident due to lack of experience than that of any other driver on the road. Add in texting to the mix it is a recipe for disaster. About 54% of teenage motor vehicle crash deaths occur on Friday, Saturday or Sunday – with Saturday being the deadliest day of the week for teens (Hosansky, 2012). Teenage motor vehicle fatalities are at the highest in the summer months.
One of the major cell phone companies AT&T, has had enormous success in launching its “It Can Wait” campaign.AT&T is using its campaign to show ttenagers the damaging effects of texting and driving and what it can do to everyone around. Texting and driving should be tied into the school systems learning guidelines as most teenagers think that texting and driving is not as big of a deal as it seems to be. In a study done by() results showed that thirteen percent of drivers age eighteen to twenty involved in car accidents admitted to being on their phones at the time of the crash. And seventy seven percent of teenagers say they are somewhat confident in that they can text and drive safely. This should be a a major eye opener to all members of society. The new generation has very little real world experience in how texting and driving can really affect them and their
Texting while driving is a widespread epidemic in the United States that has unfavorable effects on our society.“Driving while texting is the standard wording used for traffic violations” (Bernstein). It causes many people to be distracted which can lead to accidents. “Eighty-nine percent of people own a cell phone” (Gardner). That is a plethora of people that are at risk of texting while driving. Also, texting has increased by ten times in three years(Bernstein). “The risk of a crash for those who are texting is twenty-three point two times greater than those who are not” (Gardner).Driving drunk only makes a person seven times more likely to be in a crash (Bernstein). This means texting while driving is three times more dangerous than driving intoxicated. One in five drivers admits to texting while driving(Gardner). This shows that that texting while driving is a widespread epidemic. When a survey asked teenagers whether they text and drive,“seventy five percent of teens admitted to texting while driving” (7).Distracted driving causes seventy-eight percent of car crashes(Bernstein). “No distraction causes as high of a risk of an accident as texting while driving” (Gardner). Also with these statistics, it is not hard to understand why accidents in teenagers that are driving have risen. The Bluetooth capability in cars gives a driver a hands-free way to talk on the phone, but is still not completely safe (8). Also, only 1 out of 3 US cars sold in 2009 had this feature. New systems are being developed that will use Bluetooth as well a global positioning technology to allow parents to monitor cell phone use and texting while driving (10).
Janet Froetscher who is on the National Safety Council stated, “We know that at least 1.6 million car crashes involve drivers using cell phones and texting.” This high number of accidents breaks down to 11 deaths of just teenagers a day. Texting while driving should be made illegal to save lives. Mike Dudzinski a current fire captain of Peoria, Arizona stated in an interview that in just a year he experiences about 100 deaths with texting being the cause. Texting while driving is a wide controversy that needs to be made as a law in order to protect lives.