Many things can make someone lose focus on what they are doing. Sometimes it just takes all you have to stay focused on what you are doing. As a human being, people all lose focus doing something at sometime. One of the most common places for a distraction is when people drive vehicles. There is one thing that loses all the focus while driving, which are cell phones. Cell phones have changed rapidly over the years. One thing is that they have become more of a distraction. People used to just call others, when you wanted to talk to them. Nowadays, people would text someone rather than call them. Truly calling and texting are very dangerous to do while driving. Texting is just more dangerous because drivers take all of their attention away. First, drivers take their eyes away from the road. If something was to run out in front of your vehicle, the driver probably wouldn’t see until it was possibly too late. Second drivers take their hands away from the wheel. If a driver would have to make a drastic turn, they will need both hands. Lastly, drivers take your mind away from the wheel. The driver could easily miss something because they were no longer paying attention. Texting while driving is more dangerous than calling someone but they are still both very risky, and dangerous. Mark Borgard says that there is two reasons people use their cell phones while driving. The first reason is for multitasking. Nowadays, people think that they are supposed to be able to do many things at a time. Technology has revolved so much and made it easier to multitask. People think that the technology changing is a good thing, but it just makes everything more dangerous. The second reason is in consideration. Many people don’t think that there stupid ch... ... middle of paper ... ...g everyone else on the road. Cell phones are a risk on not only yourself but everyone else on the road. Works Cited Borgard, Mark. "Your Cell Phone Use Is Driving Me Crazy." The Kingman Daily Miner. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. Halsey, Ashley. "Laws Are Not Dissuading Drivers From Texting, Report Finds." Washington Post. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. Hanes, Stephanie. "Texting While Driving: The New Drunk Driving." Christian Science Monitor. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. Madden, Mary, and Amanda Lenhart. "Teens and Distracted Driving." Pew Internet & American Life Project. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. Moore, Charles. "Texting Kills: Cell Phone Use Impairs Drivers More than Alcohol." LowEndMac.com. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
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
“Texting While Driving.” Issues & Controversies. Infobase Learning, 11 Oct. 2010. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
The Editors. (2009). Should texting cellphone use by drivers be illegal?. The New York Times. Retrieved from www.thenewyorktimes.com
Jackson, Nancy Mann. ʺCell Phones and Texting Endanger Teen Drivers.ʺ Teen Driving. Ed. Michele Siuda Jacques. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from ʺDn't txt n drv: Why You Should Disconnect While Driving.ʺ Current Health Teens (Mar. 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Distracted driving is such an increasing problem in the U.S. that there are laws against driving distracted. In New Jersey there is a handheld ban for all drivers and that is a primary law. There is a ban on all cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for novice drivers. There is also a ban on texting for all drivers. This problem Is growing, drivers who are texting are 23.2 times more likely to get into a crash than people who aren’t (Cell Phones and Texting). Every driver takes their eyes off the road for approximately 4.6 seconds when texting. Driving is a new skill for teens, so doing multiple things simultaneously takes more effort for them than for more experienced drivers. Texting and driving can ruin families because when texting and driving there is a higher chance of getting in a crash. There are only 2 percent of people who can actually multitask successfully. Even though teens are more likely to try multitasking they are still part of the 98 percent who can’t do it safely. For example, Nebraska teen Emily Reynolds says...
Inbar, Michael. "Is PSA about Texting While Driving Too Graphic?" TODAY.com. N.p., 25 Aug. 2009. Web. 16 May 2014.
So just how dangerous can texting while driving actually be? According to Monash University, “those drivers who use handheld devices while driving are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves” (qtd. in Wilson 1). This is not good because there are thousands of divers that are on the road at any given time. University of Utah reports, “Using a cell phone while driving, whether it’s handheld or hands-free, delays the driver’s reaction as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of 0.08%” (qtd. in Wilson 1). With more drivers out there that lead to the possibility that a crash could happen “The time it takes to is an average of 4.6 seconds, would be equal to traveling the length of a football field at 55mph visionless.” (Wilson 1). Carnegie Mellon reports, “that with the use of a mobile cellphone reduces the amount of brain activity by associated with driving by 37%” (qtd. in Wilson 1). The Nation...
Thesis statement: Risks of texting while driving over the past few years has become a key topic for many Americans through the country. It has been the cause of numerous deaths and injuries and remains a vast disturbance for drivers. Hence driving is one of the greatest common causes of misfortunes on roads. This can result in, physical visual and cognitive distraction and significantly increases the amount of time a driver devotes not looking at the road. Therefore police officers should seize the phones of those who text and drive.
"Texting & Cell Phone Use While Driving Statistics." Edgarsnyder.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2014.
A group of friends drive around town and the driver receives a text. The driver decides to answer the text,veers into the other lane and hits an oncoming car. In the last seven years, the number of teens texting while driving has risen . Researchers at Cohen Children's Medical Center New Hyde Park estimated 3,000 annual teen deaths nationwide from texting and 300,000 injuries (Ricks). This is more than the number of teens who drink and drive. In comparison, 2,700 teens die from drinking and driving. Because of texting and driving, there has been an increase car crashes, teen injuries and teen deaths.
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).
Some groups argue that the use of cell phones can be safe for small amounts of time (“Cell” 1). Additionally, it is believed there are many other distractions that are not taken into account, and that there is an unfair focus on cell phones (“Cell” 1). Believers of that may not know that “...texting while driving 55 m.p.h. is similar to driving the length of a football field with one's eyes closed” (Hanes 2). The reason that cell phones are singled out the most is that they are the most distracting, as well as used widespread. Even looking down at a phone for one second can distract you from the road. Not well known, driving while using a phone is just as, and if not more, dangerous than driving intoxicated (Hanes 1). Both cases have the same “reaction speed” (Hanes 1). Drunk driving is well known to be extremely dangerous and profoundly looked down upon. Yet, according to this research, both utilizing a phone and driving drunk are equally as catastrophic. Despite the similarity, many more people use their cell phones while driving than driving drunk (Hanes 1). Some challengers say that research is not strong enough to support the idea that legislation can decrease accident rates. A researching group failed to see a difference in crash rates while comparing states that ban texting while driving and those that do not (Halsey 1). The US Department of Transportation found similar
No matter which laws are passed, there’s always a certain amount of drivers who think they are above those laws. I see them, on their phones, driving, knowing full well there are laws in place that prohibit such behavior behind the wheel. Roughly, there are about 3,000 deaths due to texting while driving. It’s one of the leading causes of death among young adults next to drunk driving.
According to the findings of Pascual Ferra, Liu, and Beatty, texting has the same effects on one’s driving performance as alcohol and drug use.
Ropeik, David; Gray, George. “Cell Phones and Driving: How risky?” Consumers’ Research Magazine, 86 (Winter 2003). Academic Search Premier. Colorado State U Lib. 5 March, 2003. <http://search.epnet.com>