On average two in three people will be involved in a drinking and driving incident, and up to 80% of young adults aged 16 to 20 have admitted to texting while driving. Based on the commonality of cell phones, one can deduce that using a cell phone while driving is not only more common than drinking and driving. But that it is also more dangerous. A question that must be asked is if texting and driving has been proven to be more dangerous than drinking and driving why the punishments are not the same? With the severity of texting and driving and the numerous accidents directly related to cell phone use, the punishments should be more severe than the current standing $500 to $1000 fine. Distracted driving on the other hand if it leads to a careless driving charge and if convicted the punishments are much more severe according …show more content…
However to fully understand this definition it is required that one is aware of the definition of impaired driving. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) define impaired driving like so “Impaired driving is driving while you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs” 1 .The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute “VTTI” states that “Drivers engaged in text messaging or on a cellular phone are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash or near crash event compared with non-distracted drivers” . Based on this information it can be proven that