The Dangers of Distracted Driving

When people are driving they need to focus on the road, their life is in their hands when driving. It’s a public academic almost everybody has done it while driving. I have gone to school with somebody who got into a car accident with a school bus because they were on their phone snap chatting. They were endangering the lives of himself and everybody on the road. It's very selfish that you don't wait a few minutes to text somebody.

Everybody knows somebody who texts and drives, its a public epidemic.

Texting while driving is seen as a dangerous act and has been outlawed or restricted in most states. This act is the most leading cause of dangerous car accidents. and I personally believe that it should be outlawed in all 50 states. There are many articles, news reports, and laws passed on texting while operating a vehicle. Because of the danger associated with the act. Texting while driving causes numerous problems such as distraction from the road, a decrease of attention once he or she turns away from the road in responding to a text, and limiting physical ability because texting requires the use of one or both hands to reply to messages.

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Harold D. Shane says ”Most experimental evidence shows that people who think that they are multitasking well are actually not paying sufficient attention to all the tasks at hand. In the case of trying to text while driving, this miscalculation can be Fatal.” Driving takes a lot of focus and concentration people to die every minute in a car crash.

Vehicle crashes are one of the causes of death for 15-20-year-olds and about 6,000 deaths are caused by distracted drivers each year. Solving the problem of texting while driving will reduce the number of accidents. According to statistics about distracted driving, “the percentage of drivers visibly manipulating hand-held devices while driving was higher among females (0. 7%) than among males (0. 5%)” (NOPUS 2010) This growing trend is mostly among teenagers but all ages confess to surfing the web while driving. Daniel Scott says “73% of teens agree that texting and driving were very dangerous, but many continued to do so regardless. Additionally, 59% admitted to talking on the phone while driving, and 11% admitted to drinking and driving.” People are able to know the difference in what they are doing is wrong or right but yet they still will risk their lives and others just to look on there phone.

Teenagers often think that they are being careful when they are texting while driving behind the wheel with their friends in the car and that it wouldn’t happen to them and believe it is impossible to stop texting while driving. Teenagers and adults do not understand the importance of this subject. Michael E. Bratsis says“Teens make up the largest group of distracted drivers, and 11% of teen drivers in fatal auto accidents were reported as distracted at the time of the crash. Nearly half of U.S. teens say they have been in a car when the driver was texting (Madden and Lenhart 2009).” We as teens think we can do pretty much anything we want I myself can agree because I think that way sometimes as well. It's a bad mentality to have when trying to drive.

There are new technologies to help keep people on track to like hands free call and text Bluetooth devices that let you keep your eyes on the road and avoid crashes. There are many solutions to prevent it. You can always pull over to the side of the road or the nearest place if needed to text someone. Another way is when you are in the car, put your phone where you are not able to reach it, and find a place where you could put your cell where you won’t even be tempted to look for it. Haroon Sheikh says “ there are many ways to keep your phone from distracting you, I drive for lift sometimes and I have a car mount that keeps my phone in a position that I don't have to move my head far away from the road it helps me keep me driving safe.

Daniel Scott (2016) "Teen perception of texting and driving in rural West Virginia," Marshall Journal of Medicine: Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 10.

Shane, Harold D. "Texting and Driving: The Deadliest Distraction." Library Journal, 1 Apr. 2015, p. 56. Gale Academic Onefile,

References

• IIHS: Distracted Driving
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Distracted Driving Crash Statistics
• NHTSA: Distracted Driving
• Policy Research