Texting and Driving Essay

In the age of advanced technology, it is no wonder why many municipalities allow texting and driving. If you take a look around you at any given point, it would be almost impossible to not find someone texting on their phone. Texting has become an integral part of communication for all. Whether it’s a teenager or a C.E.O of a company, we all use texting as a critical means of getting information to one another in an instant. Therefore, it is clear to see why texting and driving are allowed in certain location throughout the country. However, I believe that it should be against the law. One reason is because texting requires someone to use his or her hands to text instead of steer. The second reason is that texting requires the use of one’s eyes causing driver distraction that may lead to accidents. There have been arguments that as long as

Texting and driving should be banned in all fifty states because texting is a distraction that keeps drivers away from the road. According to the book Brain Rules, while multitasking, research shows your error rate goes up 50 percent and it takes you twice as long to do things. (Cooper) Texting someone is nearly the same as talking on the phone, therefore, it’s an ongoing conversation. But driving is an ongoing action, excluding stop signs and stoplights as well. As a driver the main focus is the road. In order to send a text, the cell phone has to be the main focus. For example, if a driver is at a stop sign, receives a text, and decides to look down at the phone. The driver’s eyes, hands, and focus completely move toward the phone and not the road anymore, which is the main focus. With this situation, there are a number of things that can go wrong. Someone can switch lanes really quickly, a baby can walk out the street, a car could suddenly stop, etc. So any drivers, who plan on “multitasking” while driving, think twice before making that decision.

Furthermore, ‘texting in cars and trucks causes over 3,000 deaths and 330,000 injuries per year as stated by a Harvard Center for risk study’ (Hanson n.p.). Just imagine all the lives that could be saved from deaths or injuries if people stop texting while driving because it is a major distraction for them. There belief is that they can multitask, but the sad reality is that the brain cannot do that. The brain has to focus in a particular task at a time. In order to do things right or correctly. Pennings a highway patrol helped demonstrate teens that texting while driving is a dangerous action. He made several so called “ Professional Texters” pass several obstacles while answering text messages and the results were not pleasing at all, cones were flying. The questions asked were not hard, yet they still manage to make the driver lose focus from driving. This is why implementing a rigorous law would come in handy. People will reconsider the thought of many things while being in their vehicles such as texting,eating and drinking, watching videos, putting makeup or grooming, etc. The states have not yet implemented a good law they only prohibit it during school zones or if a police officer sees you, but that is not enough.

According to texting and driving statistics, every year, around 330,000 people die every year from texting and driving. This is around half of all the people who pick up their phones in the first place. Being on your phone draws your attention from the road, to your phone. Doisomething.org states, “When you text and drive you are 23 times more likely to get into a crash.” All it takes is a simple act of not watching the road. Being unaware while driving can put you, and other's lives at risk or injury or even death. This can affect your future, others around you, your friends, and your family. Texting and driving is a very big deal. Don't Text Drive states “5 seconds is the minimal amount of time a driver takes their eyes off the road. If you are traveling at 55 miles an hour, this would equal the length of a football field of not

Drivers can now be cited if they are found to be using electronic devices that result in the driver diverting their eyes off the road or becoming distracted to an extent that they put other people 's safety at risk. Talking on the phone may not fulfill this criterion but texting or using a mapping app could certainly qualify. When one is texting, one is actually doing all three activities that are considered distracted driving - their eyes are off the road, they are paying attention to something else and their hands are off the steering wheel. This is an open violation of the law and demonstrates a complete disregard for the safety of others on the road. It has also been observed that drivers who have a tendency to text while driving are also more prone to commit other offenses such as weaving through lanes.

The most dangerous between texting while driving and driving under the influence is texting while driving. From 2002 to 2011, driving while intoxicated numbers went down and texting while driving numbers went up (Oberman). Texting while operating a vehicle raises the risk eight times higher to cause a wreck. If people choose drinking and driving, it raises the risk four times higher to cause a wreck (Driving). When people drive out on the roads doing either drinking while driving or texting while driving, a crash could occur at any time. People texting and driving makes themselves take their eyes off the road longer because people focus on the message received and try to think of what the response message will say. Drunk drivers usually tend to speed up or slow down, while texters tend to swerve across the centerline (Texting). A person

First, With so many examples of times people were harmed or even worse died from texting while driving is countless. We don’t have time to go through each time of course but there’s one example I can recall right now. In 2007 Hillary Coltharp began texting

Another reason why texting and driving should be forbidding is that there are many lives at risk. Debate.org (year) also discusses how many drivers feel that texting while driving is easy to do. It is disappointing knowing that drivers are not putting their safety first based off that opposing argument. According to Why Do We Still Text and Drive, an article by Cassie Shortsleeve (year), texting is a compulsive behavior. Instead of waiting to respond to a text until we are in a safe environment, we as human beings are so fascinated by information that we give into the temptation to respond to a text as soon as we receive one. Although we live in an era were texting is extremely popular, it should be illegal while driving.

One great reason they should ban texting while driving is because of what happens on the roads. For example, I found in article one that “more than nine people are killed everyday because of people that are distracted because of the cell phones.That being said this means over 1,153 people are injured every year while others are being distracted.”

Many people are coming together to bring awareness to this ongoing problem. Supporters of bans on texting while driving assert that texting motorists pose a significant danger not only to themselves but to countless innocent drivers, passengers and pedestrians throughout the United States. Texting while driving impairs one's ability to drive as much as being drunk does and no one would ever argue that drunk-driving laws are unnecessary. Supporters also point to polling data that show overwhelming support for making texting while driving illegal. There has been reports of the government wanting to pass laws to ban using your cell phone while

Although car accidents are risky, crashes can be avoided by participating in safe driving behaviors and driving with a trusted adult by gaining driving skills. While texting or driving on your cell phone or driving your obnoxious friends around is very tempting, you should know that it is a distraction and they take all your focus off the road. In general the driver who is responsible for the car accident will have to pay for all damages. caused by the accident ( and by extension, that driver's insurance carrier) . People shouldn’t drink while driving because they need to learn how to control their liquor and reduce the amount of car accidents.The government has passed a law making a textalyser to see if people have been using their phones while

Oh I better open this snap that I just got from Brandon lets open this.CRASH! *SIRENS*.Texting

I am in firm belief that prohibiting the use of cell phone (or any texting devices) while driving would be make the drivers and streets safer and or more aware. There are numerous reasons why texting and driving should be prohibited. For starters, human beings have a limited processing capacity. Processing capacity could be seen as a tank, while the water that fills the tank can be seen as tasks. Now how much water that is poured into this processing capacity tank are determined by whether they are high or low loaded tasks. A low loaded task would leave the tank with plenty of available room for other tasks while high loaded task would fill the majority of the tank up. Driving a car would be defined as a high loaded task, due to that driving a car takes a lot of cognitive processing. Including, at minimal both covert and overt attention combined with feature searching, visual searching, visual scanning is involved in the basic task load of driving a car. Figure in the low load task of texting into the filling of the processing capacity tank, the tank begins to overflow. What this means that something from the high loaded task must give up to make room, such as overt attention. When an individual is driving

Today, texting while driving out numbers the amount of drunk driving according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Texting while driving is six times more likely to cause a wreck than drunk driving. You are 23 times more likely to wreck if you are texting. Texting while driving is equal to driving bind for 5 seconds each text. Out of the worlds’ population of over 7 billion, at any given moment all over the world, over 800,000 drivers are texting. Drivers think they can handle looking away for a second to reply, or read a message. By doing this you are decreasing your break reaction time by 18% (national). “The concentration needed for safe driving makes texting safely at the same time impossible” (Bratsis 70). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (C.D.C.)

Statistics show that texting and driving has a higher chance to causes accidents than intoxicated drivers. The reason that texting has such a high chance to create an accident lies in the fact that the person texting focuses on the phone instead of the road. On the other