texting and driving dangers essay

Imagine this.  You're in your car driving to an appointment. You're late and your phone begins to vibrate—you've got a text.  It may be the person you're meeting with and you really want to check it.  Your phone is within arm's reach.  You glance and see the screen lighting up.  You're curious.  The only car on the road is a few car distances in front of you.  It'll only take a second to check and respond, only a second.  Do you check the message?  Do you respond back?  Hopefully, you said no.   Perhaps you'd pull over and read the text or wait until you reached your destination.  It's easier to know how to respond when you're an adult, but what if you were a teen?  Would you do the same thing?  Statistics answer those and many other questions for us. Unfortunately, while surveys report that 97% of teens admit that texting while driving is dangerous, they still do it.  A whopping 43% of teens admit to texting while driving.  Research reports that teens admit that texting is their number one driving distraction.  What's most troubling is that 77% of teens have admitted to watching their parents text and drive.  According to these surveys, parents aren't setting a good example.  Texting and driving is a dangerous trend and it's leading to life-altering injuries and death.  The number one killer of teens is motor accidents and the cell phone isn't helping. This year there have been an estimated 912,740 crashes involving drivers using cell phones and texting.  Annually, 21% of fatal car accidents involving teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 were the direct result of cell phone usage. This statistic is predicted to increase as much as 4% every year.  You may be thinking, not my teen. But what about the friend who's driving her?  Well, about 48% of Americans ages 12 to 17 report that they have been in a car when the driver was texting.  Now that's not a comforting.
Simply enter your paper topic to get started! The Dangers of Texting and Driving 3 Pages 713 Words May 2015 Saved essays Save your essays here so you can locate them quickly! Topics in this paper Popular topics Why are there so many accidents by teens and adults on highways and neighborhood streets because they were distracted by a phone call, email, or text message? I feel that texting while driving need be made illegal in all cities in every state because there are so many deaths as a result to texting while driving. After some research to find out how many states have passed a law to ban texting while driving shows that only thirty-nine states have the ban. Eleven states have a partial ban or no ban at all. After uncovering all the information needed to understand how many states have the ban, I really think our government should pass a law in every state to ban texting while driving. Until cell phones and texting came in the picture of our lives, there have been deaths or major injuries in accidents due to a distraction from the phone. First of all texting should not be allowed while driving because it can be a distraction while person is driving and it can cause the driver not to pay attention to the road. If a driver looks at their phone while driving when they should pay attention to the road, different things can happen or cause an accident. For instance, when a person looks at a text message or responds to a text message they are not paying attention to the road ahead or around them. When a person drives a car, it requires being attentive on the road. A respectable driver always pays attention to their surroundings when they drive. When someone does not pay attention while driving, they can easily cause an accident, be a result of an accident, or worse. Ultimately, a ban in all cities and states should pass a law to ban texting while driving. However.
Only available on StudyMode Read full document → Save to my library Dangers Of Texting Many people, mainly teenagers, text while driving and don’t think to consider the safety of themselves and others. Some teenagers, just like Chelsea in the Dr.Phil’s, film “Texting While Driving”, come into some near tragic experiences because of texting while driving and still don’t consider what they are doing a safety hazard. Chelsea stated that nothing can stop her from texting while driving. I’m sure she is not the only person who feels that way. Many people enjoy the convenience of texting while driving and that’s all they focus on. Most “texters” don’t look into the fact that if you’re giving the your phone attention, you aren’t giving the road your full attention and you are putting yourself and others at risk of endangerment. Texting slows down reaction time just as if you were under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Studies have been tested in order to prove this, in an article it stated “The new study, which entailed outfitting the cabs of long-haul trucks with video cameras over 18 months, found that when the drivers texted, their collision risk was 23 times as great as when they were not texting.” (Richtel 1) When you text you slow down you reaction time and as stated above the likelihood of being is involved in a car accident becomes much greater. In the public service announcement film titled “Cow” directed by Watkins-Hughes three teenage females were also involved in a tragedy because of texting while driving. Watkins-Hughes and the special effects team Zipline Creative used a lot of drama and realistic details such as blood and screaming along with rapid movement. Even death was incorporated into the PSA to get across to the target audience of teens what actually happens in a car accident caused by texting while driving. In the first scene Hughes was looking to.
Nowadays, it is a common occurrence to see people messaging from their cellular devices in the midst of driving. Many drivers, across the globe, engage in the practice without contemplating about the potential detrimental effects of their actions. Notably, researches have depicted that texting while driving is one of the major causes of road accidents. As a matter of fact, accidents caused due to messaging while driving have superseded those which are instigated by drunk drivers. Worth noting is the fact that a majority of drivers are inclined to the belief that they can send some messages without negatively impacting on their driving abilities. However, studies have revealed that drivers are not as capable of multi-tasking as they believe they are. Researchers have discovered that drivers who text while driving look at the road 400 times lesser compared to those who do not message. According to the he National Highway Transportation Admission, texting while driving increases an individual's chances of being involved in an accident by 23%. In connection with that, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute equates texting for 5 seconds at a speed of 55 miles per hour with driving blind a distance equivalent to a football field. Furthermore, the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society has revealed that messaging while driving tends to reduce an individual's brake reaction speed by almost 18%. Sometimes, the people get very absorbed into the text such that they momentarily forget that they are driving. Sadly, it is those few seconds of distraction which have cost several individuals their lives. Statistics conducted by the National safety council indicate that texting while driving responsible for over 1600000 accidents annually. On the other hand, the Harvard Center for attribute 330000 fatal injuries per year to texting while driving. Furthermore, the Institute for.
The following student essay was submitted as an entry in our scholarship essay contest. The statistics on texting and using your phone while driving and ideas to break those habits By Leticia Pérez Zamora Every day in the United States around one out of ten people are killed by distracted drivers, and around 1500 are injured in some way in crashes by these irresponsible, distracted drivers. One of the most dangerous, distracting activities that many people do is texting while driving. It is extremely dangerous because people who do this are putting more attention in texting, and they take their eyes off the road while they are driving, which increases the chance that the driver can lose the control of the vehicle, and could cause a crash or even in a worst case could kill other people. When a person is texting, she/he is thinking about other things besides concentrating on driving. This is very dangerous because it could make the driver lose control of the car and slow her/his brain’s reaction time in case of a potential accident. The statistics are very sad, because according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in 2011, 3,331 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver, and 387,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver. Additionally, a recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that drivers who are texting are twice as likely to crash, or almost crash, as those who are focused on the road. These statistics are reaching higher numbers because people are using their cell phones more and more, especially the adolescents. For this reason it is very important that we find some ideas to break off this bad habit of texting while driving. I think that one of the easiest and best ways to break this habit is simply to turn off your phone. In this case the driver wouldn’t be.