...Focus on Driving According to an article by Kiernan Hopkins, “Over 2.5 million people in the U.S. are involved in road accidents each year. The population of the US is just 318.9 million. At this rate, the American people could be extinct in two human lifespans. This is an astounding number of traffic accidents.” This is just one of the astonishing statistics you can find about how severe of an issue distracted driving is in the United States. What is distracted driving you may ask? Distracted driving defined as any activity that could divert a person's attention away from the primary task of driving. A few examples of distracted driving encompass everything from texting and driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, or using any illegal substance. Some things that are so simple that you would not realize are distractions include eating or drinking, changing your radio station/song selection, watching a navigation device, or adjusting your seatbelt or mirrors. Distracted driving is becoming like the modern version of “Black Plague” and so many people are not...
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...While driving, there will always be distractions. Whether they’re noticeable or not, they are there. This includes the quick glance at the phone to see if mom called, the pizza that looks like a slice of heaven, the radio that plays the same catchy song five times, the annoying back seat driver, and the billboard of that new phone without a headphone jack. The simplest actions that force the driver to give their attention to something other than the road is a distraction. To prevent any distractions, a driver must stay focused and alert behind the wheel at all times. By ignoring distractions, drivers can make the Highway Transportation System safe for all users. Distracted driving is broken down into three subcategories: visual, manual,...
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...Argumentative Essay Bailey Tollefson WR097/EL113W 11/26/15 There is a tremendous issue in America with teens driving. A big reason why is because car crashes are, “the number one killer of teens in the United States” (“Safe kids Worldwide,” 2014). Many parents realize the danger that their kids are in once they get their license, and get freaked out. This is because teens are inexperienced, they easily get distracted, and most do not realize the importance of safe driving, and how unsafe driving can affect their lives. Teenagers have little experience once they get their drivers licenses. This is a major problem, because when you are young you feel invincible. This certainly is not the case. In 2013, 2,163 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed, which means that six teenagers died each day (“Get the Facts,” 2013). These crashes were mainly from lack of experience. “The first 500 miles for teenage drivers are the most crucial. During this time, they are 10 times more likely to be in auto crashes than adult drivers” (“Teenage Car Accidents,” 2012). A big concern for driving at night is reduced road visibility. “In 2009, 61 percent of teen crash deaths occurred between 6 P.M, and 6 A.M… this is primarily due to a combination of the visibility challenges caused by dark conditions, and slower response time brought about by fatigue, and a lack of experience driving under such conditions” (Canfield, 2013). Also animals are more active at night, which would lead to an animal...
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...Argumentative Essay By: Bailey Tollefson Teens Driving There is a tremendous issue in America with teens driving. A big reason why is because car crashes are, “the number one killer of teens in the United States” (“Safe kids Worldwide,” 2014). Many parents realize the danger that their kids are in once they get their license, and get freaked out. This is because teens are inexperienced, they easily get distracted, and most do not realize the importance of safe driving, and how unsafe driving can affect their lives. Teenagers have little experience once they get their drivers licenses. This is a major problem, because when you are young you feel invincible. This certainly is not the case. In 2013, 2,163 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed, which means that six teenagers died each day (“Get the Facts,” 2013). These crashes were mainly from lack of experience. “The first 500 miles for teenage drivers are the most crucial. During this time, they are 10 times more likely to be in auto crashes than adult drivers” (“Teenage Car Accidents,” 2012). A big concern for driving at night is reduced road visibility. “In 2009, 61 percent of teen crash deaths occurred between 6 P.M, and 6 A.M… this is primarily due to a combination of the visibility challenges caused by dark conditions, and slower response time brought about by fatigue, and a lack of experience driving under such conditions” (Canfield, 2013). Also animals are more active at night, which would lead to...
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...could potentially help reduce the amount of traffic-related fatalities.What is this policy? This policy is adding more traffic safety tools such as adding more refuge islands, traffic signals, and speed bumps. Now one may ask, how will this policy affect people? Foremost, it will increase taxes because of the people/services required to create the crosswalks. This means that this policy will affect many taxpayers negatively and citizens that want...
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...to be more texts per day than there are people on the planet. Wow! Of all the time spent driving, the chances are that someone will receive a text while driving. The law passed in the last few years has made sending a text while driving illegal.Texting is a distraction for the driver. It affects the driver as much as the impairment of the effects of alcohol. It was recorded that there were at least 200,000 accidents due to drivers who were texting. This is the main reason that the law prohibiting texting was passed. Even if an accident does not occur, several drivers may be unfocused and breeze through an intersection when a light is red. In general, distractions impair driving and are being fixed to the best of the state’s ability.True, distractions are bad and need attention. Yet there are still so many distractions at hand such as: adjusting the air-conditioning, turning radio knobs, opening/closing windows, changing CDs, talking on a phone. Why has nothing been done about these nuisances? Are these not just as bad of hazards as that of texting while driving? A fix should be assigned to each of these issues also since if they are as bad as texting.However, texting is a useful tool for communication. It is just as important as a phone call. Readers are right, if they think that texting and driving is dangerous, and I will even agree. If you are getting a text including instructions as how to get to a location or where to go, it is quite important to answer the text. Would a stoplight...
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...is very much needed while driving a car. Attention is the functioning of your brain which involves cognitive processing that focus on incoming stimuli. It is also a mental process to specific information from your surrounding environment. It is the ability to keep the mind focused by carefully observing and hearing. Technology and social medias are considerably dominant and driven in this generation, and accomplish to make individuals not pay attention to what actually is going on in front of us in the real world. “According to the research, the mental activity of conversation, whether in person or over the phone, is what takes one's mind off the road” (Strayer, 2009). Drivers have a difficult task, which requires rigorous attention on the road....
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...Threatening Driving down the road, on the right the driver is swerving, to the front the car does not seem to be able to maintain its speed. What could be going on, are the drivers drunk or perhaps having a medical emergency? Truth is the drivers are using their smartphones while they are driving. This is a theme that is becoming more and more apparent as technology becomes cheaper. New innovations bring more to the consumer’s finger tips than ever before. Smartphones can now be used as onboard GPS units, they have the ability to stream video or watch downloaded movies, texting, calling, almost anything imaginable can be accomplished with these newer devices but what they cannot do is improve a drivers skills or driving habits, in fact in most cases these devices impair one’s ability to drive safely. Smartphone/cell phone use needs to be banned from use in automobiles except to use for hands free communication only. How can this problem be addressed so that the drivers of this Nation can feel safe without wondering what the driver next to them is doing on their cell phone. A Federal proposal that would ensure a nationwide ban on cell phone use while driving would help accomplish this. The proposal would allow officers to stop any driver that is using a cell phone as a primary offense. This means that if you have a cell phone in your hands for any reason you can be stopped for it. Why is such a harsh course of action required, as stated these unnecessary distractions can lead to...
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...Vuyokazi Sithole STHVUY006 PSY2006F DOES TEXTNG INTERFERE WITH ONE’S DRIVING ABILITIES INTRODUCTION In nowadays people have become addicted to texting as a source of communication. Mostly it may be teenager’s blogging on social networks or sending quick messages. Professionals and older people scheduling meeting or even checking emails. Texting has become a regular form of communication among individuals (Caird et al., 2014). Texting messaging is an easy and fast way to communicate with friends, relatives and colleagues. It has become a very major distraction but also a risk, because now more than ever people are being distracted by their cellphones and mobile devices while driving. Distracted driving is one of the problem faced by road and safety departments due to technology (Caird et al., 2014). This literature review will look at the effects of texting on one’s driving ability. Driving alone is a very complex task because it requires cognitive, physical, sensory and psychomotor skills. It also requires a certain amount of attention and concentration, but it is a trend to see motor driver being involved in texting in the process of driving (Caird et al., 2014). Texting can be defines as using some sort of keyboard of a cellphone, laptop computer or any other electronic device to send conversational messages to another individual. While driving can be defined as a controlled operation and movement of a vehicle such as a car, bus or a truck. Both these...
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...The new use of staying connected through WI-FI and ability to have 4G LTE in your vehicle can be used by anyone who owns or operates a vehicle and feels the need to have internet capability while on the road. This can pose many benefits such as staying connected on long car rides where there may not be any service, but can have some negative effects such as promoting the use of technology while in a car. Now today a big problem is texting and driving/ distracted driving, so how would this new technology affect people while they’re operating a vehicle? An ethical issue with having 4G LTE in a vehicle is that an outside source could hack into your vehicle and control the different components of vehicle. There have been multiple incidents where...
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...daily lives, whether for personal use or for work. To me we rely so heavily on the cell phone that it is becoming dangerous. Think to a time when you were driving down the road and came up on a slower vehicle. They were swerving within their lane, couldn’t keep a constant speed and just seemed like they were completely distracted and not paying attention to the road and the seemingly easy task of driving. You want to get by the person but every time an opportunity to do so came into view it would quickly disappear because the other driver would speed up or do something to avert your opportunity. Finally you get your chance and go around the person. You look over in an attempt to quench your curiosity and see the person is talking on their cell phone. It all makes sense now; they are paying more attention to the conversation they have going on than to their driving. Driving is a dangerous activity in itself, but when you add other distractions like talking and or texting on a cell phone, the outcomes can be anything but pleasant and lead to extensive consequences. Drivers are far more distracted while talking on a cell phone than just talking to a passenger in the car. Recently my wife and I were going to a store. I have driven this route several times and knew exactly where to turn, but because of the distraction of talking, I missed my turn. This happened with just a passenger in the car. I can only assume if I had a cell phone up to my ear, or even using a hands...
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...2006). Unfortunately, this technology is affecting everyone, and it is cellular phone users’ responsibility to monitor the excessive and misusage of cellular phones because it is affecting our health, reflecting negatively on our behavior in public spaces and it is a genuine danger when associated with our daily routine activities. Walking, driving, and communicating are different tasks that require our full attention. Newspapers daily discuss incidents related to misuse of the technology. It is everyone’s responsibility to educate themselves and others about actions to take that will help us stop the problems before they happen. The primary reason why everyone should monitor the use of cellular phone is associated with health issues. In 1993, the cell phone industry hired specialists in the field. It took epidemiologist and pathologist Carlo six years of extensive research to prove that claims about cellular phones can cause cancer is correct. The results proved that radiation from a cellular phone's antenna could cause the formation of micronuclei-red flags for cancer-in the brain (Rotela, Abbott, & Gold, 2001). The radiation affects children more than adults because of the different stages of brain development. Mothers using cellular phones during...
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...trillion text messages were sent world-wide last year. Texting while driving has become more common in today’s society than it has ever been. I would like all people driving behind the wheel of any vehicle to stop using their cell phones while driving because it is extremely dangerous and irresponsible. People need to be against texting while driving because it causes a large number of car accidents every year. Many of them are fatal. While driving, teenagers and adults cannot resist the urge to pick up their cell phone and text. As soon as the driver’s eyes look down at their cell phone, the focus on the road is drawn away. About 6,000 are killed because of some kind of distraction while driving and about 1,000 of those accidents reported cell phone use as the distraction. If you think you can’t wait five extra minutes to “lol” in response to your friends joke, you’re dead wrong – pun fully intended. The University of North Texas says others were so wrong that it cost 16,141 people their lives during the 2001 to 2007 time frame. Texting while behind the wheel can even be more dangerous than a drunk driver. A texting driver travels 25 more feet than a normal driver when required to stop. Typically, a drunk driver travels four more feet than a non-impaired driver. It is a scary thought that texting while driving is worse than drunk driving. According to the University of Utah, cell phone distractions can increase reaction time as much as if you had a .08% blood alcohol...
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...Music is a form of media that is utilized in everyday life. There is a huge variety of genres of music. Each genre of music can be used to influence a certain mood. In many areas a person can walk into, there is a high possibility that music will be playing. Due to music’s relevance to everyday life, there has been a multitude of research based on whether music is a distraction to people. A distraction in most research would be shown as lower results in tests for groups who listened to background music compared to those who did not listen to background music while being tested. Background music is music that participants listen to while he or she is given a task to complete. The purpose of this paper is to see what the benefits and drawbacks...
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...Road Rage Emotions and attitudes can become a distraction when you are driving, this is why you should be aware of the affect that distractions have on your driving safety. Emotions like anger and stress can be as distracting as drinking and cell phone use. This emotions can be originated because of driving in difficult conditions. This is called road rage, or aggressive driving. There are different ideas society has about what this means, some of them are that it is just a way to take advantage to insult other drivers; it is incidents including violence between drivers and passengers (in or around cars); It is a crime or it can lead to a crime.According to Washington State Patrol, aggressive driving is the commission of two or more moving...
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