Martin Rodriguez Ms. O’Kelly AP English 3 October 2011 Editorial Essay Genia Miller had to identify the body of her 14 year old daughter by her jewelry after a horrific crash caused by texting while driving made her daughters face unrecognizable. People have the tendency to answer the phone while driving even though they know that they are at risk from having a car accident or causing an accident. Even though people are not supposed to drive while txting they still do it knowing they could get a citation because its against the law. Texting while driving has become an increasingly destructive epidemic that claims the lives of hundreds of people each year. I think that the people who are texting and driving should be penalized harder that way everybody will learn not to be texting.
While driving, adults and teenagers cannot resist the urge to pick up their cell phone and send a text or respond to one, as soon as the driver’s eyes meet their cellular device; their focus on the road is drawn away. In 2009, 5474 lives were taken and 448,000 people got injured from car accidents from being distracted while driving says the “Outlawing Text Messaging While Driving: Legislators in Several States Respond to Safety Concerns”U.S. News and World Report Article. The lives of innocent people are being taken every day due to a simple distraction. Car crashes are four more times more common to take place while the driver is on their mobile device over any other causes.
Talking on a cell phone is not the only thing that you can do to distract your eyes from the road. Americans are now playing games, accessing the internet, and even sending or receiving text messages. According to the National Safety Council, 1.4 million accidents involve drivers using cell phones every year and a minimum of 200,000 yearly additional crashes that involve drivers who were texting while driving (Texting While). Texting while driving is the cause of many accidents, and some of them are even fatal. Therefore, texting while operating a vehicle should be illegal in all places.
Brake the Bad Habit Dangerous driving habits are cited as major factors of motor vehicle crashes. Over seventy three percent of accidents are caused by a distracted driver. Many drivers today are guilty of being distracted by cell phones while driving or speeding from place to place, as a matter of fact eighteen out of twenty drivers involved in an accident admitted to using their cell phone or speeding shortly before crashing. These drivers would be surprised to know that plenty is being done to apprehend them for violating the law and furthermore is being done to enforce new ones for these distractions that seem insignificant, but can be fatal. Simple tendencies like answering the cell phone, adjusting the car stereo, or searching for a song on the IPod are some of the most dangerous distractions.
In the U.S. texting while driving is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Everyday in the United States there are about nine people who are killed and over 1,000 who are injured by distracted drivers. In 2015 according to NHTSA, 660,000 people reported that during the day they used their electronic devices while driving. Distracted driving alone caused 3,477 deaths, 3,196 deadly car crashes, and a total of 391,00 injuries (Clerkin). A simple solution to this deadly problem is to enforce stricter laws or even banning texting and driving to save thousands of lives each year.
Carly Roberts Ms. Strickland English 10 AE 4 April 2013 Driving While Intexticated Text messaging has become the dominating force of communication across the country. American teens send and receive an average of 3,300 text messages per month, that’s more than six texts every hour they are awake (Lazar)! However, the problem is not the amount of text messages delivered or received. Texting while driving is a growing problem that plagues a large percentage of the population. The risks of texting while driving are often unrealized, because it has not stopped drivers from sending a “quick” text from behind the wheel.
Pro Banning Cell Phones While Driving Every year thousands of people are killed in car accidents, the main cause of those accidents are cell phones. Using a cell phone while driving causes a driver to become distracted and lose their focus. Most accidents occur while texting or talking on the phone. Cell phones should be banned while driving because they are a distraction to the driver; they are the number one cause of accidents, and texting while driving is completely unnecessary. There are many reasons why cell phones are distracting to a driver but the main two are talking and texting.
While they have had their share of opponents, MADD has remained an ally to those committed to keeping everyone on the road safe (Loewit-Phillips & Goldbas, 2013). Mothers Against Drunk Driving: The Creation of MADD Candy Lightner was the typical American mother, until a tragic accident took the life of her daughter in 1980. While walking with a friend in the bike lane in California, her daughter was struck by a drunk driver. In the wake on this tragedy, Candy and her friends began MADD. She also met a mother in Maryland dealing with the devastating consequences of drunk driving; she was struck by a drunk driver while in her car with her five month old daughter.
I. Introduction Cell phones are very common today. 72% of those who drive and owns a cell phone say they can use them to talk or text while driving. A quarter of drivers with cellphones report that they use them to send or receive text messages while driving. In many states although banning of cellphones while driving have been place into law, many drivers still utilize their phones while driving.
Distracted driving has become an increasingly immense problem on our nation’s roadways as cell phones have become more common in our day-to-day lives. Cell phone use while driving is the No. 1 distraction behind the wheel. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in 2010, driver distraction was the cause of over 18 percent of all fatal crashes with 3,092 deaths, and crashes resulting in injury with 416,000 people (FCC). According to the National Safety Council, 23 percent of all crashes each year involve cell phone use, resulting in 1.3 million crashes nationally (FCC).