...TEXTING WHILE DRIVING LAWS Jessica Daniels DeVry University TEXTING WHILE DRIVING LAWS SECTIONS III, IV, AND V Imagine a person driving in a car down the road and all of the sudden the car coming the other direction swerves and hits a person head on. The victim of the crash probably thinks the other driver was intoxicated in some way, but that person was texting while driving. This shows that sometimes people drive as badly when they are texting while driving as when they’re intoxicated. I had a personal experience of this kind. The author of this article had a friend who was driving down a country road texting while driving. He swerved left of center and hit a box truck head on and died instantly. Everyone in high school at the time knew him so it was quite devastating to the entire student body. There were grief counselors on site for a couple weeks after he passed away. This incident shows how a simple act can instantly affect everyone so quickly. There are more and more texting while driving injuries and deaths happening every day. A lot of these injuries and deaths are in states with lenient texting while driving laws. If communities in the states with these lenient laws helped raise awareness, people may think twice before texting while driving and also raising awareness could possibly lead to the chance to change some laws. Some people believe texting while driving laws make people have to hide their texting behind the wheel, thus making it more dangerous (Masnick...
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...ourselves in so much danger due to the excessive amount of people texting while driving. Texting while driving may seem so simple to accomplish to many, but a lot of us don’t understand and won’t understand until something tragic happens. This alone has been a very heavily discussed issue within the people in the United States. However, in order to limit and decrease incidents due to texting while driving, I believe texting while driving should no longer exist in our society. I’m sure you can’t imagine that by simply sending a text message would cause such damage. If you think about it, we come across many distractions that will and can affect our driving at a certain point, and if we don’t be careful...
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...Texting and Driving Every day of our lives, we encounter people. Naturally, we connect and communicate with them whether we have close, normal or an acquainted relationship. That’s the human nature, humans are genetically created and designed to interact with their surroundings. Of course, tools and methods people use in order to communicate between each other differ among them; especially with the development of technology and the major role it plays in our lives. However, tend to use this advanced sort of communication at the wrong times distracting them from more important things at that moment, which may result in disastrous outcomes. The ad is telling people, primarily young people of the texting generation, not to text and drive, and does so effectively using the fear factor by implying that texting and driving leads to violent injuries. The picture I chose for this assignment displays texting and driving, acts as a warning about the deadly consequences. In the picture, the scattered blood on the hand of the female driver resembles the injury and pain caused by the incident of texting and driving. Blood on the cellphone also tells the extent of physical damage the female driver has encountered; small, convergent blood dots on the phone may be caused from a face or head injury. The appearance of blood in the picture acts as a warning to show that texting while driving causes serious physical pain. Furthermore, the position of the laying arm holding the phone loosely...
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...more connected to cell phones than ever. It’s true that cell phones make life easier. We are able to check our emails with it, receive phone calls, send text messages, hear music and take photos. However, cell phones and driving have become a massive issue that has redoubled these past years. This issue has been around since cell phones first came out. Everybody has their own point of view; however I believe that using cell phones while driving should not be allowed. My reasons for believing in this are that drivers are focusing too much on the screens of their cell phones instead of the road and phone usage can increase the time it takes for a driver to react. The main reason for most accidents in today’s society is cell phone usage while driving. Cell phones cause distractions in many ways. For that reason, anytime a driver takes away their hand off the wheel the higher is the risk to cause an accident and sometimes a fatal one. In the end, of my research about this issue I found this website where people share there “texting & driving” stories. I read some of them and they are all very touching and some even fatal endings. It makes you think how fragile life is. One minute we are here the other minute we look at a cell phone and we are gone. Distracted driving is a dangerous behavior not just for the drivers, but also the passengers and the no occupants. According to, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics showed that in 2011, 3,331 people were killed...
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...Distracted Driving: It's Time to Get on the Same Page In 2010, 3092 people were killed, and about 416,000 others were injured in vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver in the United States. Of those killed, 408 occurred when at least one of the drivers was using a cell phone, which equates to about thirteen percent (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], 2012, para. 4). Because of this alarming and increasing statistic, I believe there should be standardized regulations, not outright bans, regarding the use of cell phones by drivers. Distracted driving can be broken down into three main types of distractions: Visual, manual, and cognitive. A visual distraction is anything that causes a driver to take their eyes off the road. Manual is a distraction that involves taking one’s hands off the wheel. Cognitive distractions cause drivers to take their mind off what they are doing. Distracted driving activities include things like using a cell phone, texting, and eating. Even using in-vehicle technologies such as navigation or the radio are sources of distractions ("Distracted Driving," 2013, para. 2). I believe that distractions will always remain an issue with drivers, be it cell phones, eating, or applying make-up, but the question remains: What can be done to prevent or reduce accidents? A lot of it boils down to proper training during the process of acquiring a learner permit. Often, a book full of rules of the road is issued to prospective...
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...why should we think it is ok to use our cell phones and drive at the same time. When drivers decide to send or receive text message on their cell phones, while driving they are putting their life and another person life in jeopardy. This issue is now a national problem and one source has claimed 1.6 million accidents a year, results of 6,000 deaths and a half million injuries (The Department of Transportation). The one thing that all drivers should consider is “ vision.” The use of cell phones while operating a vehicle can cause accidents, fatalities, and road rage. Initially, more and more accidents are occurring, since all kinds of drivers are now using their cell phones to text message, dial phone number and checking their e-mails, while they are driving on the road. Vehicle manufacturers are making the vehicles equipped with a Bluetooth hands free device, so drivers would be more attentive when they are driving on the road. However, another source showed drivers making a phone call were four times as likely to cause an accident as other drivers; hands-free devices were not significantly safer; if you text and drive, it's twice as risky as just talking on the phone (“PBS NewsHour”). Furthermore, the only way to assure safety and a decline in statics is to stop using the cell phone while driving So far, cellular phones and road rage are a bad combination and In today’s society more and more people are on the road today using cellular phones and texting today; consequently...
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...Just How Harmful is Your Cell Phone? Olivia Kinser Advanced Composition CM380 Anna Jordal February 10, 2014 Just How Harmful is Your Cell Phone? That little device you always have in your hand or pocket, the one you use to check the weather, communicate with your friends, or simply scroll through social media sites with – this little device is what’s known as a cell phone. Most people find this device as something that is needed to live, but have you ever wondered just how harmful a cell phone is to your body? If you text and drive, do you realize how dangerous it is? Or are you one of those people that don’t stop to think about this type of stuff because regardless, you can’t live without it? Either way, one should take into consideration what exactly it’s doing to your body and even the people around you. The device that you think is just keeping you in contact with all your friends may be causing you headaches, memory loss, DNA damage, malignant brain tumors, or even a car accident. Radiofrequency energy, also known as radio waves, is a form of non-ionizing radiation. Your cell phone emits these electromagnetic frequency (EMF) waves that penetrate a users’ brain. The tissues closest to where the phone is held absorbs in this energy. “The WTR (Wireless Technology Research) study showed a correlation between a higher incident of brain cancer and a great risk of rare neurological tumors and DNA damage among the users of handheld phones versus users of other types...
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...simple act could save countless lives. That simple act would be to stop being distracted by our cell phones when driving. Are we still willing to listen or do we discount or tune out the speaker and continue on about our business? The fact is that all states should have standardized laws banning cell phone use while driving because talking, texting, and reading texts distract drivers and lead to accidents and death. A brief history of the cell phone shows that “between 1998 and 2001, more than 100 million cell phones were sold. By the end of the 90's, more than 70 million users existed. At the end of 2000, there were over 100 million subscribers, so the 2000’s are the decade that cell phones became common” (Strayer and Cooper, 2009). It is also the decade that lives started to be lost due to cell phone use while driving. Today almost everyone has a cell phone. It is hard to imagine a time when we did not have cell phones available to us. Most people can barely remember having to use pay phones to make calls. Cell phones are helpful and convenient. The problem comes when people are so attached to them that they cannot function without it. The problem comes when people are driving killing machines and cannot concentrate on driving due to using their cell phone. [pic] (Miller, 2012) People are distracted by their cell phones everyday while driving. “Drivers who use hand-held devices are 4 times more likely...
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...organization, and technology issues should be considered when developing a smart grid? When it comes to smart grids, being aware of the amount of energy you use in a household is important to remember. It would definitely help manage the amount of power used every month and allow consumers to make more intelligent decisions regarding it. The organization that should be considered is allowing the consumers to access information about their usage of energy consumption and production every month. This is where the technology comes into play. You shouldn’t want an outdated and inefficient infrastructure. Going digital, just like the smart grids are, would be good to do. Having fast technology that is reliable and quick enough for the consumers to use will build satisfaction in the business and help out a lot. 3. What challenge to the development of smart grids do you think is most likely to hamper their development? Installing smart grids are very expensive. We have economic problems we have in our country now, which will make consumers more skeptical about installing smart grids for their household. Not only that, but the smart grids are very high in technology and can be challenging for consumers to understand it and respond to the price signals. If they spend $250-$500 on these grids, and don’t know how...
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...Imagine a 16 year old girl that's going to drive and her two friends getting into a car she starts driving and right away there’s a stop light, while they're waiting the friend in the backs asks the girl driving to turn around to look at a text on her phone as the girl turns around to look unknowingly her foot slips off the break and starts rolling into the intersection and nobody notices because they're all still looking at the girl's phone seconds later a car hits the passenger side and flips the car, by 12 hours later they all had passed at the hospital. Teens are reckless their brains are not mature enough to be driving and not developed enough to make quick rational decisions when driving. This is a reason why the legal driving limit should be raised to 18. Why risk your teen’s life by letting them drive instead of waiting two years till their minds are a little more developed....
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...Cell Phones while Driving? Many places nationwide are now seeing the dangers of the use of cell phones while driving is on the rise. Not only is it a danger to the person using the cell phone, but anyone around the user. It only takes a fraction of a second to lose control of a vehicle; and who knows what can happen in that fraction of a second. Will a life be lost? Will two or more lives be lost? We know what can happen to an extent, but let’s not find out what the full extent is. We need everyone, including the Government, around the nation to really see the pure danger and horrible outcomes of cell phone usage behind the wheel. The first reason why we need to ban cell phone usage behind the wheel is because it is a huge distraction to the driver. The driver is not fully focused, alert, or at their full awareness when they are using their cell phone. Secondly, this so called distraction can or will lead to some sort of accident. Whether that accident is fatal or leaving the other person in critical condition. Thirdly, that last reason we should really ban this act is because the drivers are purely reckless. These drivers can be compared to drivers that are under the influence due to their lack of judgment and their ability to focus on the road. I’m sure that people are quality of looking at a text or answering their phone while driving, but my intention is to try to get everyone aware of the dangers of this action, and to hopefully get people to second think the decision to...
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...Daily in the United States we lose people to fatal car crashes caused from reckless driving, drunk driving, and speeding. Car wrecks are the number one leading cause of death in the United States today to make the percentage of death by car wrecks go down we need to have have harder consequences on people that break those laws. What is more important to you, driving safely and saving someone’s life or driving how you want to and taking someone’s life or possibly even your own? People lose friends and family daily from car crashes and never get justice for their death, car wrecks affect everyone around people in the crashes, and tickets and license points do not stop people from driving how they want to so we need stronger consequences to stop them from that. I think the in the United States today people get away with driving recklessly, speeding, and drunk driving and we need to create a stronger law and consequence to stop people from causing these deadly crashes. I along with many other people want to stop people from being so careless with their driving decisions. Most people will eventually have a license and a car and...
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...This article suggested few things that older driver deaths and injuries be prevented. First, High incidence of seat belt use. More than three in every four (79%) older motor vehicle occupants (drivers and passengers) involved in fatal crashes were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash, compared to 66% for other adult occupants (18 to 64 years of age). Second, Tendency to drive when conditions are the safest. Older drivers tend to limit their driving during bad weather and at night and drive fewer miles than younger drivers. Third, Lower paired driving. Older adult drivers are less likely to drink and drive than other adult drivers. Only 7% of older drivers involved in fatal crashes had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher, compared to 24% of drivers between the ages of 21 and 64 years. An article also introduced that Older adults can take several steps to stay safe on the road. • Exercising regularly to increase strength and flexibility. • Asking your doctor or pharmacist to review medicines–both prescription and over- the counter–to reduce side effects and interactions. • Having eyes...
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...Abby Slatten, 20-years-old, was allegedly speeding at 85 miles per hour (mph) while scrolling through pictures on her Facebook account via smartphone. Tragically, Slatten plowed into another car that killed another driver who was at the elderly age of 89-years-old. The elderly victim could have been someones parent, friend, or sibling who did not deserve a fatal ending to their life. A similar story, involved a young 34-year-old woman who received a prison sentencing of 10 years with a $25,000 fine for sending a text message while driving that could not wait, in result, crashed and killed her daughter and two nieces all who were in the same car. That women will serve her sentencing but will never be able to bring back her loved ones back from the accident. The constant reminders of roadway accidents ending in tragedy, such as those police reports, are widely spread across our nation. All tragic stories are disheartening to hear and think about; a reminder to play our part in keeping our roads safer. Tragedy may effect your next door neighbor or a stranger in the local supermarket; no matter who we are or what our background is tragedy exist and does not discriminate against anyone. People can make a difference to their daily living. There are those small percentage of people who has a habit that is difficult to break. For example, the habit of their constant smartphone use plays a major role in contributing to the dangers on our roadways. Inevitably our...
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...do!!!!!” Yes that is right!!!! Not to compare the severity of gun laws with the use of cellphones while driving but the later does have a very similar effect and end result.....people die!!! If you think that driving while talking on the phone without a hands free device is harmless? Tell that to the families of the 2,600 people that died in 2005 and the injured 333,000 in the United States that year. A lot of people think that this is a harmless act, but when studies prove that the reaction time of a 20 year old behind the wheel and on the phone is compared to that of a 70 year old driver without being on the phone, I think it is self explanatory. Although this has been an ongoing debate for years on why this act should have penalties and consequences. It seems that the United States is behind the power curve on reaching a consensus on what the penalties or consequences, if any, should be actionable by law. Studies have shown that this behavior, which is a way of life as we know it, is actually a very irresponsible act while driving on the highways of our country. I mean how many more people have to pass away in car accidents before these laws are passed in congress and enforced in such a manner that people will actually opt to shut their phones off while driving period. Studies show that over 3,000 people have died from distractions while driving, be it texting or talking on the phone. People look at it as talking to a passenger that is in the car, the difference lies...
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