Texting and driving is the leading cause of fatal accidents in teenages and adults between the ages of 16 to 25. Now you may believe that you yourself are not the problem, but other drivers around you may be. Our goal is to get people to realize that is is is affecting everyone on the road, even pedestrians. We believe that by improving our understanding of how mental and physical distractions impair drivers; we can work towards finding a universal solution to the problem at hand.
We all know a friend or family member who texts while driving and we all know how tempting it can be at times to respond to messages when we recieve them, but some of us don’t realize what a danger it is until it’s too late. People like to believe they can easily multitask, when in reality the human brain can only focus on one task at a time. It merely switches between activities quickly. Research supports that people cannot devote 100 percent of their attention to each task. The more tasks they add on, the more their attention diminishes, but people believe they are the exception.
Multiple states have enforced laws against texting while driving and have managed to reduce the number of offenses from 43% to 31% . Each year an estimate of 3,000 teenagers are involved in fatal accidents, where as 400,000 recieve minor injuries caused by drivers distracted by a cell phone. Since the enforcement of said laws, we’ve only managed to decrease the number of offenses by about 12% which is a start, but isn’t too significant. Currently 44 states including D. C. have made it clear that it is illegal to use one’s phone while driving yet it is still a matter that needs to be disscussed and dealt with.
The CDC states that more than 9 deaths occur each day caused by distracted drivers, where as hundreds are injured. Included in an interview with CNN a Barbara Dunn had a disscussion with her 16 year old son asking if whether or not he would ever text while driving . Suprisingly the son responded with, “Probably not. ” Which to us inticated of how great the temptation to do so is and how hard of difficult it may be to kick the habit. We’d like to present you all with a senario. Let’s say Danny and Moises are on the road driving to “location” for some dinner. When Danny recieves a text message from a friend.
He brings to reach for his phone… now pause. I’d like everyone to think about the possible outcomes of the current situation. One, he can answer the text message and potentialy be involved in an accident. Two, he answers the text and nothing happens. Three, Moises can answer the phone for him or hey, they can just ignore the phone till they reach their destination. People are aware that texting while driving is a dangerous, but it has become a habit that people cannot shake. At this point we feel as though sheer education on the matter will not stop people from doing so, but harsh laws may.
More than eleven teenagers die everyday as a result of someone driving while texting. Obviously that number goes up when you include adults. Nearly 50% of people have said that their parents use their cellphones while driving. It is believed that teenagers pick up the idea that it is okay to do so since their parents do it. Allow us to ask two questions. What is the acceptable number of yearly deaths caused by distracted driving in our country? Now, what is the acceptable number of yearly deaths caused by distracted driving in your family? Both answers shoulde be zero.
Using this to begin the solutions section of speech) The horrible truth is, it’s hard. But it is crutial for us to fight all this. Here are three practical solutions that can help curb your habit, we know you’ve done it because we’re guilty as well! Keeping the phone out of reach sounds easy enough, but some people just cannot live without their phones by their sides. Those individuals will need to get used to it. Each car comes with a glove compartment and I’m positive yours isnt full of gloves now is it? Put your phone on airplane mode, stuff it in there, and take it out when you arrive at your destination.
Tell everyone round you of your new policy and see if they can follow in your footsteps. There is an app avalible for this, well there are multiple, specifically AT&T has the Drive Mode App. The app works by detecting when you are traveling at a speed greater than 25mph and stops you from being able to deliver text messages or even from sending quick messages stating that you are currently driving and cannot attend to them at the time. Also it’s important to mention, if someone else is in the car with you we’re sure they would be glad to read/respond to messages for you instead of risking both your lives, so keep that in mind please.
Cell control is a black box that is attached to the middle of a car’s windshield. It uses Bluetooth to split the drivers seat from the rest of the car which allows everyone except the person in the drivers seat to use their phones. If someone calls while the driver is on the road the call automatically goes to their voicemail. If the driver attempts to use their phone an alert opears reminding them to not use their phone while driving. If a An energy company in texas called CDM installed Cell control into over 500 trucks three years ago and saw an immediate 33% reduction in crashes.