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Causes And Consequences Of Distracted Driving

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Imagine driving the entire length of a football field at a speed of 55 miles per hour with your eyes closed. That is the equivalent of sending or reading a text that takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. While it may seem very minor to take your focus off of the road for only a matter of seconds, the consequences of distracted driving can result in devastating injuries or possibly even death. Distracted driving can range anywhere from texting, eating, putting on makeup, or even daydreaming. When a person is distracted while driving, it can not only harm themself, it also puts the other people in the car and other vehicles and pedestrians around them in danger. According to the article Distracted Driving, in 2015 alone 37,461 lives were …show more content…

The article Causes and Effects of Driving Distracted stated that “even if your eyes are focused on the road while eating or drinking, shifting your food from hand to hand, looking down when you spill, or burning yourself on a hot cup of coffee could all take your attention away from the road just long enough to cause an accident.” Although multitasking such as eating drinking, brushing hair, or doing makeup may seem like an oppurtunity to kill two birds in one stone, studies show that multitasking while driving increases your risk of …show more content…

for teens. Six teens ages 16-19 are nearly three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and over to be in a fatal crash.” Since teenagers are new to being behind the wheel, the risk of crashing is higher than an adult who has more experience. The article Texting and Driving Statistics noted that a teen driver is 4 times more likely to crash or near-crash while talking or texting compared to an adult driver. Even having a single passenger doubles the risk of an accident for a teenager driving on the road. In a AAA poll, it recorded that 94% of teens acknowledge the danger of driving distracted, yet 35% admitted to doing it

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This article was a study conducted by the National Safety Council, a nonprofit organization that promotes health and safety within the United States. The preceding source is a study that utilized brain scans to determine the correlation between cell-phone usage and individuals in the process of driving. In conjunction with these brain scans, simulations with the usage of volunteers were performed in order to ascertain a more conceivable link in regards to distracted driving. The paper continues on to provide the differing circumstantial events that can transpire when driving while distracted, such as reaction times, inattention blindness and lane swerving.

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The first thing a novice driver taught is to keep your eyes on the road. Constantly, an accident is associated with distraction. With all the today’s technology, it is easy for a driver to become distracted. Distraction is considered as anything the driver does besides not keeping their eyes on the road like eating, drinking, adjusting the A/C or fiddling with the radio (Berger, 2010).

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Just last night, the Oklahoma Highway reports a 17-year-old youth from Locust Grove was killed when the Jeep he was riding in went off a county road and struck a tree. The troopers say the cause of the crash was driver inattention. Distracted driving is defined as "any activity that could divert a person 's attention away from the primary task of driving. " Distracted driving can lead to minor fender benders or catastrophic collisions.

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According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 3,331 people were killed and over 387,000 injured in motor vehicle accidents connected to distracted driving (“Learn the Facts About Distracted Driving - EndDD”). Distracted driving is dangerous and needs to continue to be promoted and used for many more years. Many People think that distracted driving is only texting and driving, it is not. There are three types of distracted driving that drivers may do without noticing.

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This includes eating, texting, applying makeup, etc. It’s not just physical distractions that can keep us from concentrating on the streets; our mind can also do just as much distracting. Driving angry, upset, aggressive, tired, or fatigued can put yourself and others in serious danger. We have to stay alert, sharp, and rational when driving as we are putting lives unnecessarily at risk.

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“Each day in the United States, 9 people are killed and more than 1,000 injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver.” (cdc.gov) This is a serious problem on the rise nationwide. Some would even go so far as to say that this is a national epidemic. The types of distracted driving I will be talking about are: manual, visual, and cognitive.

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A highly effective approach to the problem of distracted driving is to make its penalties as severe as DUI penalties. This dangerous driving behavior, which has become a national pandemic, refers to objects or activities (either internal or external) that cause a diversion in the driver’s attention. As a result, the driver switches focus to a non-driving activity—such as using a cellphone, eating a meal, or looking at a billboard. The current fine imposed by the State of California for using electronic devices behind the wheel is only $20, the lowest in the country, for a first-time offense (Bundy and Raja,1). Contrast that with a first-time DUI offender who faces a six-month jail time and a heavy fine of up to $3,000.

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Cell phones, car stereos, passengers, GPS devices, and eating are the top five causes of distracted driving. “According to a 2009 report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, one of every five car crashes causing an injury involved some element of distracted driving, and 16% of all fatal automobile accidents involve distracted driving”1. Autonomous vehicles will provide a safer and more reliable method of transportation for future generations. By developing the autonomous vehicle technology, we will eliminate many of the risks involved in driving a car. Through a decrease in car crashes and fatalities, the future of the automobile will liberate drivers from focusing on the road, keeping their hands on the wheel, and can efficiently

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What I found to be the most interesting from the reading that most of all car crashes are caused by distracted driving. Most distracted driving accidents are caused by teenagers or people who barley started driving. Distracted driving is caused when either the person who is operating the vehicle is paying attention to something that is going on inside the car or they are taking their attention to an object outside of the vehicle and not paying attention to the road. Over 5,000 distracted driving cases happen each year in the state of Utah. Nearly 3,000 of those cases result in injured persons and 28 result in death.

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People do not think about the consequences of their actions, they only think about the short-term things. “In 2014 in the state of Oklahoma there were about 68,327 crashes.” “There were 669 deaths due to car crashes” (Oklahoma Highway). While the main concern is for people’s lives, there are also other things that are affected when people drive while distracted. Insurance is another thing to consider when driving.

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Cell Phones are a well-known source of distraction for drivers. The impairments associated with using a cell phone behind the wheel are on par with those of drunk driving, and the US National Safety Council has implicated device usage in 26% of all vehicular crashes (Bernstein & Bernstein 1). Distracted driving is a growing public safety hazard, with the number of fatal wrecks increasing each year. Research shows that there is a great need for increasing public awareness of the potential risks associated with cell phones and other devices. Due to the proliferation of text messaging, smart phones, and interactive apps; drivers are more prone to take their eyes off of the road.

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486 Words | 2 Pages

I’ll usually be changing the music, or trying to read a text. According to the Huffington Post, ‘’ 9 Americans are killed everyday from motor vehicle accidents that involved distracted driving…’’ That statistic definitely shocked me. In my mind, I see primarily only teenagers texting while driving, but I see more older people do it also. For example, one day while I was passing a man on a highway he was just playing a game on his phone.

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The state of being inattentive during driving or an action that takes the attention of the driver away during the task of driving is termed as driver distraction. Driver distraction has also been defined as “attention given to a non-driving related activity, typically to the detriment of driving performance” as stated in ISO TC22/SC13/WG8 CD 16673 [1]. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has defined distracted driving as “an activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving” [2]. Each of these activities cause distractions to different extents and include activities like texting using the mobile phone, eating and adjusting the infotainment or the climate control systems.

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If you are fully engaged with the person on the phone, little of your mind is directed at your driving. Another effect of cognitive distraction is that it causes partial blindness. This is called inattention blindness. Using any kind of cell phone while driving can cause the driver to become blind to up to 50% of the traffic scene in front of her. This occurs because the brain doesn 't have the capacity to process both the phone conversation and the visual signals from the eyes at the same time.

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Distracted driving is a serious issue in the United States that can have major negative effects and needs to be rectified. Everyday accidents on the road occur and distracted driving plays a major role in them. It is commonly agreed upon that it needs to be rectified, but the important question is, whether the repercussions for distracted driving should be equated to drunken driving. Based on data, statistics, and the effects of distracted driving, the repercussions for distracted driving and drunken driving should be equated. Equating the repercussions will be effective in reducing the number of road fatalities by creating a sense of precaution and seriousness for all drivers.

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