essay #3 

Out of all of the distracted driving among people cell phone use is the most dangerous. While some people might argue that cell phone use could help driving the facts and statistics say otherwise. People are more worried about their phone than their own life and the people in the car. Not only had they put themselves at risk but also other drivers around them! In my experience on the road I see first-hand what distracted driving can do, its many lives and still counting. The more we get this out there the more lives we can save.

Any distractive driving such as: Texting, talking, eating, loud music and even when your emotions dictate your mood. It takes away half of your focus to your hands eyes and hearing. Texting requires one hand and eye focus, which leaves you with little concentration for the road. When you drink and drive you are 4 times more likely to get into and accident but it’s very different when your texting and driving because that number jumps to an 8 times more likely to crash. Sean Kozara compares distracted driving with Russian roulette, in a sense that yes you can look at a text or answer a phone call but at that moment you’re at high risk for a car accident! I know from personal experience that texting and driving can be very deadly. When a survey was taken 50% of teenagers admit to texting and driving. 28% of automotive crashes are because of texting and driving.

Over 410,000 people have gotten injured because of distractive driving and that number keeps rising every day. A persons reflects go down to about of an eighty year old man when we text and drive! That is no time to react to a quick situation.  And puts many lives in danger, not only injuries but also deaths. In order to stop this or decrease this multiple parties need to be informed like the police, teenagers, adults, seniors, automotive shops, and anything else to do with automobiles. It’s hard to resist a phone call or text, but it might just save your life if you ignore it.

LaHood says that hands free isn’t the problem since it’s up to your ear while driving. She also says that most people can’t afford Bluetooth in their car so the cell phone is easier to use. Well if this is the case I think that more car companies should be more informed of this rising number of accidents, than maybe we can work on the car having already a built in Bluetooth to at least minimize the number of crashes. It’s not a lot but it’s a great start. Because at least your eyes would be on the road and not your cell phone screen.

National Highway Traffic Safety Admissions (NHTSA) continues to research this topic, collect data, promote legislation, and encourage public awareness and education. The NHTSA is trying out a high visibility enforcement project in New York and Connecticut. Raising awareness. This is a great start as well but not nearly enough to get most of the United States to stop putting their lives in danger. So far only fourteen states prohibits all hand held cell phone use while forty-four states have banned texting and driving. There has been no state bands on complete no use of cell phones but the efforts are getting better to make that happen.

Drivers accessing social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Email increased from 21% to 43%! So this went to just people texting and driving or calling and driving to people actually checking social media sites! If it takes an average 5-10 seconds to read a text than another 5-10 seconds reply I couldn’t imagine the time it take for people to check social media or their emails. In 2011 about ten percent of FATAL car crashes had to do with cellular devices. And 17 percent were injured. 495 people in 2011 were killed because the other party was using a cell phone.

            I know from my personal experience that distracted driving is very dangerous! And to bring and actual story into this might be more useful to some that still choose to check their phone. I was in High School when this happened Davis High was a very big school and had a lot of new drivers out on the road, When it was lunch time I went out to lunch with a couple of my friends. I was in the passenger seat and my friend driving, on the way back to the school we were driving in a residential area doing about twenty miles per hour when we stopped at a stop sign. My friend looking both ways first went to push on the gas when a truck rear ended our car. We got out of the car to asset the damage and I took the car license plate down when the other party drove off! Without getting out of the car they just left. Well when the police found the car the driver admitted that her was texting and driving and didn’t see us and didn’t have the time to stop! I and my friend had whiplash me having a bruise on my forehead as well. Without realizing what he did he decided to leave the scene thinking he wouldn’t get caught. Lucky for me and my friend we didn’t have any serious injuries or death but now I know first-hand what texting and driving can do.

            The main tips you can follow for preventing a crash are very simple it can be hard the first few times but after a while it will get easy and you will be saving lives. The tips are:

1.         Devote your full attention to driving.

2.         If another activity requires your attention pull over.

3.         If you have passengers don’t be afraid to ask their help.

4.         Put all electronic distractions away.

5.         Make sure children and pets are secured.

6.         Eat before getting into the car.

7.         Finish all grooming at home, or parked/pulled over. (I know it sounds a but silly but it might just save your life and someone else’s)

8.         Make adjustments to the car before.

9.         Store any loose gear away or tie down.

10.       FULLY FOCUS ON DRIVING!!

Finish any other distractive things that you have outside the car. The more people that can follow these tips the safer our roads will be. Using a cellphone, tablet, gps, or music device while driving impairs the drivers’ awareness of their surroundings, people in the car, inside and outside situations, and ability to react, meaning that drivers have a harder time processing what could be going on around them.

            In conclusion cell phones are great in the sense of an emergency but replying to a text is not an emergency and it becomes one for someone else on the road you’re putting at risk. You should be able to take care of any distractions before getting in a vehicle at all times. Distracted driving is dangerous and can be 100% preventable if you put your cellular devices away while driving.