Texting while driving
Texting while driving has become one of the most common forms of current communication among adults and teens. Texting may seem so incredibly harmless, but texting while driving can be dangerous, and sometimes fatal. Many people believe that texting while driving is only harmful to themselves, but this is incorrect. Texting while driving is harmful to everyone around you, even your family at home, because the mental damage is just as harmful as the physical damage. Texting while driving has become a distraction that is not only dangerous but fatal as well.
Distracted driving is constantly ranking as one of the biggest traffic safety issues. “Each year, more than 80% of drivers in the annual AAA Foundation of Traffic Safety Culture Index cite distraction as a serious problem and a behavior that makes them feel less safe on the road. Nearly half of all people who say they feel less safe than they did five years ago also say distracted driving by other drivers fuels their concerns.”(Distracted Driving) According to a Nationwide Insurance study in 2009, 66% of drivers between the ages of 18 and 24 send or receive text messages while behind the wheel and don’t admit to it, and believe that it does not put others in harms way. Texting while driving is leading the list as the largest distraction while driving, accounting for 65% of near-crashes in the United States.(Shutle) The crash risk is 4 times higher when a driver is using a cellular device whether it is hands free or not, even though many believe that hands free devices are the solve to the problem. Concentrating on the road should be the focus when driving but for many it is not, cell phone use is. Cell phone use behind the wheel reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. This is the amount of reaction time you have, being reduced. This could be the time used to brake promptly to avoid rear ending someone, or the time it takes to stop at a red light instead of running it.
Vehicles are much safer than they use to be thanks to modern technology, safety saves lives, but an unsafe drives places them in harm’s way. The Alert Drivers Act of 2009 is a bill that was passed to help reduce the amount of people put in harm, the bill requires all states to impose laws that prohibit texting while driving. If a state does not impose a law on texting while driving they face a penalty of 25 percent of their annual federal highway funds. The bill gave states two years to carry out laws and create penalties, in hopes that it will be as successful as drinking while driving laws have been. Many people understand the dangers of drinking and driving, causing them to think twice before they do it, but what many don’t realize is the dangers involved in texting while driving. Next time you are in the driver’s seat about to check your phone think back to the dangers you are imposing on yourself and on thers. The time you take to read a text message is equal to the time it takes to drive down a football field blindfolded, that may not seem far but those 5 seconds could be the last five seconds of someone’s life.
In the ending months of 2010 the NHTSA conducted a telephone survey of 6,002 drivers years 18 and older. The study showed that
“Most drivers will answer a call while driving and most will continue to drive after answering. About 2 out of 10 drivers 18% report that they have sent text messages or e-mails while driving; about half, 49% of those 21 to 24 years old report doing so. More than half believe that using a cell phone and or sending a text message/e-mail makes no difference on their driving performance, yet as passengers, 90% said they would feel very unsafe if their driver was talking on a handheld cell phone or texting/e-mailing while traveling with them.” (Tison)
The study shows that people contradict what they say, and continue to believe that texting while driving makes no impact on the way they drive. Although there are many studies to show that texting does negatively impact the way you drive. 6 percent of people in the study reported near crashes due to cell phone use, this is only the people who reported it, many will not admit that texting impairs the way they drive. According to Ian Mulgrew “many accidents are blamed on distracted driving and most of the distractions are caused by cell phone usage.” (Mulgrew)
Imagine your mother, your father, your brother or your sister running out to the store, saying I’ll be right back, seems normal. Now take a second to imagine a phone call or a knock at the door, receiving the news that YOUR family member has been severely hurt or even killed due to texting while driving. Now is that text worth sending? The swerve into the other lane? The 5 seconds of not looking at the road? Texting while driving has become a fatal distraction, a distraction that ends lives.
Texting while driving has become one of the most common forms of current communication among adults and teens. Texting may seem so incredibly harmless, but texting while driving can be dangerous, and sometimes fatal. Many people believe that texting while driving is only harmful to themselves, but this is incorrect. Texting while driving is harmful to everyone around you, even your family at home, because the mental damage is just as harmful as the physical damage. Texting while driving has become a distraction that is not only dangerous but fatal as well.
Distracted driving is constantly ranking as one of the biggest traffic safety issues. “Each year, more than 80% of drivers in the annual AAA Foundation of Traffic Safety Culture Index cite distraction as a serious problem and a behavior that makes them feel less safe on the road. Nearly half of all people who say they feel less safe than they did five years ago also say distracted driving by other drivers fuels their concerns.”(Distracted Driving) According to a Nationwide Insurance study in 2009, 66% of drivers between the ages of 18 and 24 send or receive text messages while behind the wheel and don’t admit to it, and believe that it does not put others in harms way. Texting while driving is leading the list as the largest distraction while driving, accounting for 65% of near-crashes in the United States.(Shutle) The crash risk is 4 times higher when a driver is using a cellular device whether it is hands free or not, even though many believe that hands free devices are the solve to the problem. Concentrating on the road should be the focus when driving but for many it is not, cell phone use is. Cell phone use behind the wheel reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. This is the amount of reaction time you have, being reduced. This could be the time used to brake promptly to avoid rear ending someone, or the time it takes to stop at a red light instead of running it.
Vehicles are much safer than they use to be thanks to modern technology, safety saves lives, but an unsafe drives places them in harm’s way. The Alert Drivers Act of 2009 is a bill that was passed to help reduce the amount of people put in harm, the bill requires all states to impose laws that prohibit texting while driving. If a state does not impose a law on texting while driving they face a penalty of 25 percent of their annual federal highway funds. The bill gave states two years to carry out laws and create penalties, in hopes that it will be as successful as drinking while driving laws have been. Many people understand the dangers of drinking and driving, causing them to think twice before they do it, but what many don’t realize is the dangers involved in texting while driving. Next time you are in the driver’s seat about to check your phone think back to the dangers you are imposing on yourself and on thers. The time you take to read a text message is equal to the time it takes to drive down a football field blindfolded, that may not seem far but those 5 seconds could be the last five seconds of someone’s life.
In the ending months of 2010 the NHTSA conducted a telephone survey of 6,002 drivers years 18 and older. The study showed that
“Most drivers will answer a call while driving and most will continue to drive after answering. About 2 out of 10 drivers 18% report that they have sent text messages or e-mails while driving; about half, 49% of those 21 to 24 years old report doing so. More than half believe that using a cell phone and or sending a text message/e-mail makes no difference on their driving performance, yet as passengers, 90% said they would feel very unsafe if their driver was talking on a handheld cell phone or texting/e-mailing while traveling with them.” (Tison)
The study shows that people contradict what they say, and continue to believe that texting while driving makes no impact on the way they drive. Although there are many studies to show that texting does negatively impact the way you drive. 6 percent of people in the study reported near crashes due to cell phone use, this is only the people who reported it, many will not admit that texting impairs the way they drive. According to Ian Mulgrew “many accidents are blamed on distracted driving and most of the distractions are caused by cell phone usage.” (Mulgrew)
Imagine your mother, your father, your brother or your sister running out to the store, saying I’ll be right back, seems normal. Now take a second to imagine a phone call or a knock at the door, receiving the news that YOUR family member has been severely hurt or even killed due to texting while driving. Now is that text worth sending? The swerve into the other lane? The 5 seconds of not looking at the road? Texting while driving has become a fatal distraction, a distraction that ends lives.