The Dangers of Texting While Driving
The average time it takes to read a text message is five seconds. At the speed of 55 mph, that’s enough time to travel the length of a full football field (“Cell Phone”). Most people may not realize it but one out of every four accidents in the U.S. are caused by texting while driving (“Cell Phone”). Driving distracted is never safe and adding texting into the equation happens to produce the most accidents. One text could change your entire life, or worse, end your life. The danger of texting while driving is a problem that can be overcome by illegalizing its use and offering phone-disabling devices in vehicles.
Texting and driving not only greatly affects the people in the accident, but also affects …show more content…
Having a national ban on using wireless devices while driving would make people wake up and realize how dangerous it is. There are 46 states that currently have a ban on drivers of all ages from cell phone use while driving (“State Laws”). Enforcing laws through the United States gives teens and other drivers another reason to fear picking up their phone while driving. The last four states may not have the texting ban but two prohibit texting by young drivers, and one restricts bus drivers from texting (“State Laws”). We are four states away from improving the safety of many. Of course people will still text and drive after the fact of a national ban but it will still greatly reduce the number of people texting while driving. Even putting a giant fine on the act would help everybody. Just think, would you rather pay a big fine or spend the rest of your life in prison because you killed a family of …show more content…
Since the vehicle only requires one phone to be disabled, everyone else riding in the vehicle could still use his or her cell phones. You may ask yourself “How is that possible?” First of all, the vehicle will have to have more electronics in it but that is where the car designers are going anyway. The way it works is kind of like Bluetooth. You will have to connect your phone to the vehicle in order for it to let your drive. Connecting your phone to the vehicle will allow to vehicle to disable sending messages or calling. This may sound like a problem if there is an emergency but you could always pull over and put the vehicle in park if you would like to send a message or make a call. The person who is contacting you could always put the word emergency at the beginning of the text. Seeing the word emergency would give the individual driving a cue to pull over and find out what’s happening. The phone-blocking device in the vehicle wouldn’t block incoming messages, but only outgoing messages. The only downside of this method would be the fact that only new vehicles would have the devices in them. This would prevent the medium to low income people from getting the new vehicles for a few years because of the high price. The setback will result in a lag of the
The average time it takes to read a text message is five seconds. At the speed of 55 mph, that’s enough time to travel the length of a full football field (“Cell Phone”). Most people may not realize it but one out of every four accidents in the U.S. are caused by texting while driving (“Cell Phone”). Driving distracted is never safe and adding texting into the equation happens to produce the most accidents. One text could change your entire life, or worse, end your life. The danger of texting while driving is a problem that can be overcome by illegalizing its use and offering phone-disabling devices in vehicles.
Texting and driving not only greatly affects the people in the accident, but also affects …show more content…
Having a national ban on using wireless devices while driving would make people wake up and realize how dangerous it is. There are 46 states that currently have a ban on drivers of all ages from cell phone use while driving (“State Laws”). Enforcing laws through the United States gives teens and other drivers another reason to fear picking up their phone while driving. The last four states may not have the texting ban but two prohibit texting by young drivers, and one restricts bus drivers from texting (“State Laws”). We are four states away from improving the safety of many. Of course people will still text and drive after the fact of a national ban but it will still greatly reduce the number of people texting while driving. Even putting a giant fine on the act would help everybody. Just think, would you rather pay a big fine or spend the rest of your life in prison because you killed a family of …show more content…
Since the vehicle only requires one phone to be disabled, everyone else riding in the vehicle could still use his or her cell phones. You may ask yourself “How is that possible?” First of all, the vehicle will have to have more electronics in it but that is where the car designers are going anyway. The way it works is kind of like Bluetooth. You will have to connect your phone to the vehicle in order for it to let your drive. Connecting your phone to the vehicle will allow to vehicle to disable sending messages or calling. This may sound like a problem if there is an emergency but you could always pull over and put the vehicle in park if you would like to send a message or make a call. The person who is contacting you could always put the word emergency at the beginning of the text. Seeing the word emergency would give the individual driving a cue to pull over and find out what’s happening. The phone-blocking device in the vehicle wouldn’t block incoming messages, but only outgoing messages. The only downside of this method would be the fact that only new vehicles would have the devices in them. This would prevent the medium to low income people from getting the new vehicles for a few years because of the high price. The setback will result in a lag of the