One day a person was just being an average teen and goofing off, he was texting on his cell phone while driving about this cute girl he saw in class and the next minute… dead, all because he didn’t look at the road. He isn’t alone. Every year 2600 people are killed and 12,000 have serious injuries due to accidents involving cell phone use in the car. This does not just include the drivers themselves but harmless pedestrians as well. Cell phone usage and texting while driving is growing tremendously in the United States.
According to www.nationwide.com/newsroom/dwd-facts-figures.jsp, drivers that use cell phones are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves (NHTSA, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety). Texting/talking while driving puts our company at serious risk of injuring employees and losing business. Our new policy not only protects the safety of our employees, but ensures that our product arrives safely to its final destination. The policy only applies when employees are clocked in and on company time. However, company policy states that a sales representative can engage in an important business call only if deemed necessary.
Copeland said, “The lives of innocent people are being taken every day due to a simple distraction”. According to the National Safety Council, there are 1600000 car accidents per year and, 11 teen’s death per day every day are caused by drivers distracted by texting while driving, and . This number adds up to nearly 25% of all car accidents. Also, according to some studies, in 2011, at least 23% of auto collisions in 2011 involved cell phones, which is adds up to almost 1.3 million car accidents. Car accidents are four times more likely to result from take place from drivers being distracted by texting than other causes.
Distracted Driver: Do Distractions Affect Driving Video Game Scores? RESEARCH PAPER Chase Coffey Mr. Matisco / 7th Period September 17, 2012 Why this project will be useful: You read it everywhere, see it on the news… cell phone use and driving an automobile do not mix. People are dying on our roadways all because they simply cannot drive from one place to another without using their phone during the commute. By using a video game such as Mario Kart on the Wii, a game that most school children love, a deeper interest into this subject will most likely be attained. Research: There are many websites that discuss driver inattention which is defined as a driver being drowsy, engaging in secondary tasks (such as talking on a cell phone), not paying attention to the road ahead, and looking away from the road.
It is estimated more than 100 million people use cell phones while driving. This is issue should not go unsolved. Drivers who use cell phones are a major cause of car accidents. According to the article “III- Cell phones and Driving” 80 percent of all car crashes are related to non-attentive drivers. There are certain activities that may be more dangerous than talking on a cell phone.
When texting while driving is takes our eyes off the road for at least 5 seconds or more which, if we think about it anything can happen in 5 seconds behind the wheel. About 77% of people can say that they are a pro at texting while driving, which is obviously not the case because 23% of accidents are caused by texting. About 1,600,000 accidents happen each year according to the National Safety Council. Teens have admitted to texting while driving, and say it’s easy, but did you know that the majority of teens who text while driving spend the most time of typing the message in the other lane. This bad habit does not help the young kids that ride in the car with their parents because the majority of parents either text or talk on the phone while driving with their children in the vehicle.
Hundreds of teenagers and adults across the nation reach for their phones and decide to text while driving. They are making the decision that at that moment a text message is more important than their lives A texting driver is 23 times more likely to get in a crash where as a drunk driver is 13 times more likely to get into a crash. Texting while driving delays reaction time, increases risk of serious injury, and brain power is decreased by 40 percent. Something as simple as a text message can decrease your reaction time. Laboratory simulation studies generally concur that using a cell phone does slow reaction times and degrades tracking abilities.
In most states, police officers are not allowed to pull drivers over for texting while driving. There must be some other infraction (GHSA, 2013). Since implementing higher fines, Alaska distracted driving fatalities have steadily declined. In 2004, 101 fatal crashes were reported compared to only 50 in 2013. This validates, harsher penalties can make a difference and save lives (Alaska DOT, 2014).
Texting while driving has been banned for all drivers, while any use of a cell phone has been banned for anyone under the age of eighteen. (Texting While Driving) What kind of dim-wit wrote this law? Adult drivers can be distracted just as much as teenage drivers. Studies estimate that distractions caused by cell phone use while driving result in roughly 2600 fatalities and 330,000 injuries each year in the United States. (Noder) This number could be much higher because it is difficult to prove cell phone usage without reviewing a billing
Alexa England November 16, 2009 Mr. Fred Jordan Should Drivers of Automobiles Be Prohibited Using Cellular Phones Nowadays, cellular phones have become the most important necessaries in our lives. A cellular phone is an electronic telecommunications device with the same basic capability as a conventional fixed-lined telephone but which is entirely portable and does not require a wire connection to a network. But most people using cellular phones do not notice that they can harm anyone at anytime without even realizing it because all they are doing is paying attention to their phone and they are not paying attention to what they are doing! As we notice, drivers of automobiles are always using cellular phones when driving. In my opinion, drivers of automobiles should be prohibited from using all cellular phones!