...Tanguay February 25, 2013 Using Cell Phones While Driving is a Huge Problem Almost everyone has a cell phone, and that causes a problem for public safety when drivers use their phones up behind the wheel. Using cell phone while driving should be made illegal. Driving is a privilege not a right, therefore to ensure the safety of everyone and allow drivers to reach their destination safely, there has to be reinforced regulations. Cell phone usage should be a concern and drivers should refrain from using them while operating a vehicle because it can cause problems such as distraction, slower reflex, and endangerment. Cell phone is a distraction because that could present a serious and potentially deadly danger. Using the phone while driving can cause a cognitive problem, meaning driving and talking on the phone with someone prevents one from focusing one hundred percent on the road. “Studies show that driver pay attention to phone conversation is distracted because the paying more attention to the conversation and less to driving.” (Declare Ropeik) Take the case of Kelson Vaillancourt who “in May 2009 lost her 21-year-old brother to distracted driving. Kelson Vaillancourt was riding in the car with a co-worker to a job site when the driver failed to yield at a stop sign, drove into traffic and was hit by a tractor trailer. The driver died instantly and Kelson died hours later”. According to Insurance Institute for Highway Safety drivers who use hand held device are four...
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...Driving Without Cell Phone Distraction “Don’t text message when you’re driving. It’s not safe.” “Oh, Mom. You worry too much. I know what I’m doing.” “You’ll get distracted and end up in a crash.” “No, I won’t.” “When you drive my car you are not to use your cell phone to talk to your friends or text message. If it’s that important to talk, pull off the road at a safe place to use your phone.” Mom didn’t confess to her daughter that she’d tried texting while she was driving, and she had many more years of driving experience. There was no way to safely drive and use a cell phone at the same time. Some things were best done one at a time, she thought, like driving and text messaging. Her goal was getting to her destination without harm to others as well as herself. She kept her phone calls brief. She also made sure her family knows, “If I don’t answer it’s because I’m driving. When I stop, I’ll call you back.” “Highway safety experts are now claiming cell phone use while driving is a public health issue and are demanding more education and restrictions on such electronic devices,” writes Deidre Bello, associate editor of Safety & Health magazine. Her article poses the question of how multitasking while driving should be addressed. Early in 2007 a local restaurateur was killed when his SUV struck a utility pole. The news report advised that he was using his cell phone at the tie of the crash. But cell phone use isn’t the only multitasking behavior at issue. How...
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...People...Drives Using Cell Phones Do!!!!” ENG 215 Research and Writing Professor Erica Ellsworth 5 August 2012 “Guns don’t kill people, drivers with cell phones 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...
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...Mobile Phones And Driver Safety Mobile phone use behind the wheel is the major cause of motor vehicle accident in the United States and around the world that results in traffic collisions, property damage, injuries, fatalities and death. A growing number of people are using mobile phone while driving to stay connected with friends, families, co-workers and result in motor vehicle accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that 1.2 million crashes each year involve drivers using mobile phones for conversation and at least 100,000 additional crashes can be related to drivers who are texting (NSC 2011). Every year nearly 1.3 million people die and 50 million are injured as a result of motor vehicle accident (NHTSA 2011). These deaths and injuries have a huge impact on families and communities life. Mobile phones first came into the market in the mid-1980s in the United States and have science showed a dramatic growth all over the world (CTIA, 2000a). Over the previous period in the U.S. alone, mobile phone subscribers exceeded 267 million and placing it among the fastest growing industries in the world (CTIA 2008). Graph The latest data available from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that the majority of mobile phone owners use the device while driving. According to reported, in USA today in 2007 about 11% of the population used a phone while driving during the day (O' Donnell, 2009). Graph Such fastest growth of...
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...Banning the use of Cellular Phones While Driving should be Mandatory Rene Caddell Ashworth College Author Note This preparatory speech is being submitted on September 18, 2013 for Rene Caddell’s SP180 Principles of Public Speaking course – Candace Murray, instructor. Imagine traveling on a roadway behind a vehicle swerving back and forth over the lines or driving at very inconsistent speeds. You wonder what could possibly be causing the driver to drive so erratically. Is the driver drunk? Is the driver preoccupied with eating his or her lunch? Is the driver busy attending to children in the backseat? As you pull alongside the driver, you realize this is not the case. Instead, you notice that the driver has a cellular telephone up to his or her ear and is busy chatting away, or even worse, you notice that the driver is busy looking down typing a text message on his or her cell phone. As you pass the driver, who is more focused on his or her cell phone conversation than on driving, you are disgusted. However, if you are like eighty-five percent of Americans, you answer your cell phone or make a phone call just moments later, thereby engaging in the same dangerous practice that just annoyed you. Talking on the cell phone as well as texting while you are driving is quickly becoming on of the leading causes of car accidents. Cell phone use while driving should be banned and we must take action now to get this enforced. We all think...
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...devices while driving. Every day we can make a change; make better choices, to make a difference in our lives and the lives of others. We can make a simple choice to hang up our cell phone before getting in our car and driving. We can choose not to accidently run over a young child walking across the street on their way to school due to the distraction of a cell phone. It sounds simple enough to do; yet, every second, someone decides to take that child's life. They decide that it is more important to answer their phone or reply to a text while driving over the wellbeing of others. Distracted driving and its repercussions have been a growing concern since the first-day drivers began using mobile devices. The first cellular phones became available for consumer use in the mid-80s. Widespread use was not marked for almost another decade. In the early 90s, less than 4.5 million people used cell phones. Over the last 15 or so years the population of cell phone users has spiked to over 230 million, according to statistics from the Insurance Information Group (cellphonesafety, 2013). With greater accessibility to technology; there also, should come a greater responsibility on properly using that technology. In today’s society, the use of mobile devices has become so common that over 97% of adults own a cell phone. (Gibson, 2014). People have become tethered to their technology. The problem is not our dependency to this technology;...
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...should be stricter laws on using mobile hand held devises such as cell phones while driving. Whether it is talking, texting or looking for applications using hand held devises such as cell phones are very dangerous and stronger laws need to be put into place to detour the use of such devises. The Affects Law makers need to look at the stats regarding the accidents and accidental deaths that happen because of distracted driver. There needs to be changes made to the use of cell phone usage while driving to help keep people alive. Distracted drivers cause over half of the nations accidents. According to Gabrielle Kartsas (2014. Para, 6) of the USA Today the National Safety Council's annual injury and fatality report, "Injury Facts," found that the use of cell phones causes 26% of the nation's car accidents which is over 25% of all accidents. So the government needs to put stronger regulations on driving while using a cell phone. Some states have put regulations in to stop cell phone usage while driving. The GHSA (Governs Highway Safety Association) (2014, para, 4) says No state bans all cell phone use for all drivers, but 37 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by novice drivers, and 20 states and D.C. prohibit it for school bus drivers. In the authors opinion a federal regulation needs to be put into place to stop drivers from using hand held devises while driving. If a driver must us their cell phone use a hands free devise. According to the CDC • 69% of drivers in...
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...dangerous way. Although teens and others may not realize it, any cell phone use, whether hand held or hands free, while driving is dangerous. In fact researchers have found that it quadruples the crash risk. Just the act of dialing a cell phone can increase crash risks by three times. In a naturalistic of truck drivers, Virginia tech researchers reported a 23 fold increase in risk of a crash or near crash when any drivers were text messaging. As of may 2012, 10 states, The district of Columbia (DC), Guam, and The Virgin islands have instituted a hand held cell-phone ban for all drivers, with all but two of them making it a primary offense. Text messaging is banned for all drivers in 38 states, The district of Columbia, and Guam with all but three of them making it a primary offense. An additional five states prohibit text messaging by novice drivers. Since the number of states enacting very distracted driving laws is very fluid, be sure to check web resources that follow movement in state safety traffic laws, such as the governors highway traffic safety association, before providing these numbers. Recent research from the insurance institute for highway safety(IIHS) suggests that the first generation of all-driver cell phone ban laws was generally effective at reducing use of hand-held cell-phones while driving but not at reducing crashes. It is unclear as to why. Policymakers should consider cell phone ban laws that include hands-free devices, as well as supportive...
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...the use of cell phones while driving be standardized? Over the last four decades, mobile devices have become the trademark of our society.cell phones and other mobile devices have inundated our society At any given time; we can see drivers talking or texting in a moving vehicle. According to Brenner (2013), 87% of American adults and 78% of teenagers own a cell phone. The scary part is that almost two-thirds of cell phone possessorss’ are distracted by talking or texting and while they drive. This action makes distracted driving one of the leading causes of vehicle crashes (Klauer et al., 2014). Mobile technology is a great convenienceAt any given time, we can see drivers talking or texting. , but when we make a choice to talk or text while driving we put ourselves and others at risk. . Mobile devices have become the trademark of our society. I believe all drivers should be held accountable for their choices, regardless of their expertise or the place, and the governing regulations should be the same across state lines. It is a great convenience to have a cell phone. A person is in constant touch to others when equipped with one. Today’s cell phones are extremely advanced and have wonderful applications, to the point that they could replace an actual computer. When a person is in a dire situation, it is advantageous to have a cell phone so that help can be called immediately. Apple can pinpoint the locations of their phones, even if they are turned off. The cell phone has come...
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...Having a cell phone in today’s society has become a regular part of life. Even I have a cell phone and I’m really not a big talker. What’s astonishing to me is kids seem to all have cell phones by the time they get into middle school. We rely on these communication devices for every aspect of our 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...
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...Hackman ENG 215: Research & Writing April 26, 2015 Cell phone usage while driving should be a concern to all motorist and policymakers. Is that Facebook update, or retweet on Twitter, even that selfie for Instagram worth your life or the lives of others in the car or on the road? It’s often said that individuals take many things for granted but your safety should not be one of them. This “distracted diving” is becoming the new DUI. Needless lives are lost on our highways, and while doing our best to stay so connected to people in our lives that potential fatal accident could in fact sever those connections. Of all the topics that I could’ve chosen, the subject on whether cell phone regulations should be changed or not made me think about how often we as humans take this thing called “life” as a joke in so many words. I’m not excluded from this because I didn’t think a device the size of wallet, as thin as pencil could cause so many issues. Another reason why I chose this topic is because its shows that we need to start taking responsibility for our own actions. Before doing more research I didn’t know how many countless were lost. It’s estimated that every year at least 3,000 lives are lost because safety has become nothing more than a word. We know that drinking and driving is dangerous yet we drink. We know wearing seat beats can save lives, yet we refuse to wear them. We need to start taking our safety serious. Whether regulations were to change or not this issues...
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...Cell Phone Use While Driving In today’s technologically advanced world it is hard to find anyone without a cell phone in their purse or pocket. Cell phones are being used more frequently during normal activities, such as at the dinner table, in the movie theater, and in the car. The use of a cell phone in a moving vehicle raises the risk of collision 3 to 6.5 times greater than that of an undistracted driver (Seo &Torabi, 2004). The increase of 16-24 year olds using cell phones combined with their lack of driving experience creates a deadly cocktail of inevitable consequences. These consequences are closely related to those of a person driving well above the legal blood-alcohol-limit (Seo &Torabi, 2004). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) seems to feel that cell phone use isn’t that dangerous. The NHTSA states “only 18 percent of the 5,474 people killed and 5 percent of the 448,000 injured in crashes were because of cell phone use” (www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811379.pdf). Eight-teen percent, that’s 985 people dead each year, if the number of drivers using cell phones stays the same. That’s 985 times The United States takes a step backwards to getting closer to finding a cure for cancer, because each one of those 985 people has the potential to do just that. Oh, don’t forget the five percent of the 448,000 or 22,400 people that were only injured. Injured, what exactly does that entail? Injuries sustained from motor vehicle accidents...
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...Is a Text Worth a Life? "More than ten of us are killed and 1,000 are injured every day in the United States as a result of distracted driving", according to the highway traffic safety administration. People can all relate to texting and driving as an everyday accordance. In todays' society most people own a cellular device. This ad although using a male as the example was made to provide awareness to all genders to take responsibility behind the wheel. This ad with a cell phone and text message showing the person never made it home was made to show awareness to drive safe and not to text behind the wheel. While analyzing this ad one of the things people start off noticing is the cell phone. It is one of the most noticeable items in the ad. A cell phone is a device people all have and carry at their sides. All it takes is seconds for someone to pick up a cell phone and send an instant message that can result in a catastrophic event. The audience can also notice how the driver is holding the phone. The way his hands are off the steering wheel and onto the phone. Resulting in not having complete and...
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...distracted driving due to using cell phones and other electronic devices while driving. Although distracted driving accidents and fatalities have risen in the last decade, placing a ban on the use of a cell phone or other electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle as some states have will not resolve the issue. In fact a ban on cell phones and driving may very well increase the accident and fatality rate because drivers are now more involved with concealing their illegal behaviors. More citizen participation and drivers safety management should be more carefully considered in a transpiring situation such as this. More Americans should be made aware of the dangers of distracted driving, and become more involved in a reform for safety. Distracted Driving In the last decade, accidents resulting in injuries, or death caused by distracted driving has increased drastically as technology in wireless communications has advanced. Distracted driving is defined as operating a motor vehicle while simultaneously focusing your attention elsewhere (Goldfarb, 2010). Distracted driving includes texting and driving, using a cell phone or smart phone, eating and drinking, talking to passengers, grooming, reading (including maps), using a navigation system, watching a video, adjusting the radio, CD player, and/or MP3 player. About every 24 seconds there is an accident, and so far this year an estimated 1,013,123 crashes involved drivers using cell phones and texting (CDC, 2012). On a...
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...blessing, it is also a massive responsibility. If drivers do not take it seriously then someone may end up hurt, if not dead. The major way people abuse the ability to drive is by participating in distracting behaviors. There are various ways that a driver, young and old, may become distracted and therefore putting not only their lives but the lives of everyone around them in danger. Texting and driving is considered to be the one most thing that drivers do that cause them to become distracted, but this is in fact not the only problem that drivers have. Talking on the phone is also a big problem that some drivers have. Distracted driving is an immense problem in the United States and only drivers can change this action to stop themselves from being distracted. Texting while driving is a huge issue in the United States. “In 2010, National Safety Council (NSC) estimated that 28% of all incidents and fatalities on U.S. highways...
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