Texting While Driving
2200 words

Texting While Driving In America, turning sixteen is a huge milestone for most teens because that is when they finally get to drive a car. You spend time studying for the test, even more than you would for your algebra tests. You endure painful driving lessons from your overprotective parents who are gripping on the passenger seats for dear life and lecture you just for going a little bit too fast. Finally, when you are ready, you take the nerve-wrecking driving test where, if you are unlucky, your driving examiner would be a grumpy looking man who looks so strict you lose your nerve and start making silly mistakes. However, after going through the pain and hardships, you finally do it. You get your license and you get a little taste of freedom. No more having your mother pick you up after school or getting a ride with your dad who might sometimes embarrass you in front of your friends.
Unfortunately, once you start driving, everything you have learnt went out the window. You drive with your radio turned up, you rarely turn your head all the way to the back when changing lanes, and the worst habit of all, you start texting and even talk on the phone while you are driving. The advancement of technology has made different forms of communication so easily accessible. Social media is such a huge part of us and it is all in the palm of our hands. Sure, it is a good thing that it is so convenient for us but doing all that while behind the wheel is neither the time nor the place for that. Texting or using any electronic devices for that matter, while driving is really dangerous for so many reasons and in spite of our addiction to it, it should be banned or even made illegal. We live in a fast-paced society and because of that, we are wired to constantly get things done quickly and if possible, perform many tasks at once. We would like to believe that we are capable of multi-tasking. However, much research has been done to prove otherwise. It has been shown that texting while driving is actually equivalent to drunk driving or could even be worse. The decrease impaired performance of a person who is drunk and a person who is texting is almost equivalent to each other (Harrison 1516). It is a well-known fact and law that one should never drink and drive because a person who had been drinking would have impaired judgment and would be very dangerous on the road. If this is so, shouldn’t we have the same view towards texting while driving since it is equivalent in its effect towards human judgment? Texting or using electronic devices while driving is a distraction in a physical sense. If we are busy texting or doing something else, we avert our eyes away from the road and those mere seconds we think is harmless, could in fact, be very dangerous. In the case of texting, or using any social media, a person would have to constantly shift their attention from the road to their device which greatly increases the risk of getting into an accident. I do not think texting someone is worth the risk of dying and that is why I think a law banning texting while driving should be enforced. Besides the physical distraction that the use of cellphones causes us, there is also the emotional aspect of the distraction. I am sure we have all gotten ourselves in arguments over the phone, fighting over texts and even “Twitter wars.” These are all distractions that could cause us to be emotionally disturbed and the effect it could have on a person while behind the wheel could be deadly. When someone is so focused on the spat they are having with their friends or family, they are so emotionally distracted that they hardly even focus on the road ahead of them. Their mind is focused on something else and not on the large vehicle they are currently controlling and that is a frightening thought and could very easily lead to fatality. A simple solution that most people suggest is the hands-free option available on most devices nowadays. However, according to Horey et al., research has shown that even when people use hands-free devices, they still drive with the same reduced ability as the people that use hand-held devices (qtd. in Harrison 1516). This shows that the simple act of holding a conversation is the cause of the distraction. If that is the case, someone who is pondering over something else, like a disagreement or an argument, would face an even greater risk of getting into an accident. Banning the usage of electronic devices would reduce the dangers of this. A major reason why the use of electronic devices should be banned is because we have to remember that the worst case scenario of any of these situations is that it could lead to death of others as well as ourselves. We seem to belittle and not value our lives very much if we are willing to risk it just to reply to that text or tweet. It definitely is not worth it no matter how important it could seem at that point in time. According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, as of March 2013, there are no states in America that bans all cell phone usage while driving and only 10 states have bans on hand-held devices, some of which are California, New Jersey, New York and Washington. As of now, 39 states, including Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio, have a texting ban (Governor’s Highway Safety Association n.pg). This is surprising considering the fact that according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2011, 3,331 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver and an additional 387,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration n.pg). With that many injuries and deaths, I would like to think more proactive solutions are being taken to stop these avoidable accidents. We sure have heard enough horror stories about it and yet we are still doing it. On June 6, 2012, a teen was actually convicted of homicide as a result of texting while driving and killing a 55 year old man (CNN Wire Staff n.pg). Incidents like that can haunt you for the rest of your life, and yet it could have been so easily avoided if he had stayed focus on the road. Enforcing a law on texting while driving would have a higher chance of preventing cases like that.
Despite the many evidences that points to the banning of texting or using electronic devices while driving as being a wise decision, there are still many people that are against the idea. Some people who are opposed to the ban say that it is an issue of freedom. They feel that people should be allowed to do whatever they want in their car and should not be forced to do ‘something’. An Odessa city councilwoman, Barbara Graff, thinks that it would be very difficult to enforce the law even if it is passed because police officers will have a hard time knowing if someone was actually texting. (qtd. In Swartsell n.pg) According to a report by the Highway Loss Data Institute, an insurance industry-funded research group, it was found that in states where texting while driving is banned, the crash rates remained the same and showed no decline as compared to other states where it is allowed (Highway Loss Data Institute n.pg). Other arguments as to why a law should not be passed on this matter is that doing this could actually make it more dangerous for drivers on the road because then, drivers will take their eyes of the road more often while trying to hide their texting while driving. “We could pass an ordinance, pat ourselves on the back and say we took care of it. But did we?” Barbara Graff said. “We need to use education to stop this.” (qtd. in Swartsell n.pg) Of course, we live in a generation where people are so attached to their phones that they are not willing to give it up even when they are behind the wheel. The dangers of the usage of electronic devices while driving have not yet proven to be an immediate danger to them. Nevertheless, there have been states that have already implemented this ban and it seems to be a step in the right direction. The reason of not supporting this ban because it is seen as an issue of freedom is rather ridiculous. Laws like having to wear safety belt have already been implemented and is obeyed by almost everyone who rides in a car. Is it not the same concept? Being required to wear your safety belt in the car because it is safer to do so is the same as not texting while driving because it keeps you safe as well. Another reason given was that it would be difficult to monitor the usage of a cellphone.
Officer Michael Biddy, a Navy veteran and currently a department of defense police officer disagrees and thinks otherwise. He said during an interview that, “It is pretty easy to tell when someone has a phone up to their head or out in front of them, in their hands texting.” Saying that we should not implement the law simply because it may be difficult to enforce is just avoiding the problem. It should not be too difficult to enforce this law as police officers are currently required to look out for people who are not wearing safety belts because it is against the law. Similarly, people who use cellphones while behind the wheel should be relatively easy to spot. Another point that Barbara Graff had brought up was that this issue can be prevented simply through education. However, Officer Michael Biddy thought otherwise. He said, “It needs to be addressed. It is a big hot button topic, especially within the teenage community. Teenagers and parents are wiser to the dangers of it, but there are still people out there who choose to take chances. For those who choose to take chance, maybe a ban or law set in place will help remove temptation (Interview).”
A survey done has shown that students rated distracted driving as dangerous but that had no bearing on their driving behavior (Atchley et al., 280). This is unfortunate because most people are highly aware of the dangers of driving while distracted but still choose to do it anyways. This is why simply trying to educate drivers will not curb this issue. This issue can only be reduced if something drastic like banning it altogether, is done. Furthermore, it is obvious that if you are doing two different things at the same time, your focus will be divided and thus, slows down your reaction. If anything were to happen in a split second, you would react slower because you are trying to concentrate on driving while trying to text someone. This split second of delay can be a matter of life and death for a person. Recent meta-analysis findings have shown that there is a large deterioration in driving performance when performed with a secondary task (qtd. in Just et. al 70). An experiment carried out by the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon has measured that the performance of the spatial areas of the brain when performing dual tasks decreased by 37% (Just et. al 74). A person tends to be unaware of her surroundings and do not pay attention to anything going on at the side that could potentially cause an accident. When a person is looking at her phone, she would take their eyes off the road. In addition to that, when a person uses her mobile device, it usually leaves for only one hand on the steering wheel which makes it even more difficult to control the car. The increase in reaction time together with the difficulty in controlling the car as well as the decrement in brain ‘power’ is a recipe for disaster. All in all, I think the pros of implementing a ban against the usage of electronic devices while driving, outweighs the cons of it. The roads would be much safer if people who were in charge of controlling a large vehicle put all their focus on the road instead of their phone, both for the drivers and pedestrians. Allowing the usage of phones while driving can cause the driver to be distracted both physically and emotionally, cause the untimely death or injury of their own selves as well as other people, and slows down a person’s reaction time in case of an emergency and causes a person to lack control of their own car. People, teenagers and adults alike, have to start taking their lives more seriously and stop gambling it because they are taking a very big risk with their lives whenever they drive while distracted. Appreciate your life and the life of others and stop doing something that could possibly endanger it.