Texting While Driving
Texting While Driving Over the years technology has helped to move society forward, making things faster and easier. Being able to drive allows people to reach a destination a lot sooner than they would by walking. Also the ability to now text using a cell phone speeds up the communication process. Owners of cell phones try to combine texting and driving to make business or personal communications even faster. Texting while driving (TWD) is a highly controversial issue, and the people involved are concerned with reaction time, causing more car accidents, and responsibility.
Drivers are taught to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel. But it is very common to see people, especially younger, trying to drive while glancing down at a cell phone or in some cases not watching the road at all. Michael Austin’s study “Texting While Driving: How Dangerous Is It? ” he states that a person’s reaction time while driving is much worse than it is if the person has been drinking. The numbers show that while drunk it takes an extra four feet to brake and stop the vehicle, and when texting it takes an extra seventy feet, which is a massive difference.
Degagne and Mulvey wrote an article about a trolley driver that crashed head on with another trolley while he was texting his girlfriend. He could not react fast enough, and because of that along with similar accidents, in Massachusetts, there is a one-hundred dollar fine on anyone caught texting while driving. The offending driver must also take a driver’s retraining course. While people on the other end of this argument think that texting while driving is not worse than driving drunk. Gabrielle Marks writes that “cell phone usage impairs driving ability and response time as profoundly as driving while intoxicated” (7).
She explains that university researchers did a study using forty adults between the ages of twenty-two and thirty-four with an average of eight years of driving experience. The results back up her argument. Delayed reaction time caused by texting while driving can lead to car accidents. Car accidents and insurance rates are directly proportional in a sense that the more car accidents a driver is involved in, the higher his or her insurance rates will be and vice versa. Many people that are pro-texting hile driving assert that the amount of accidents will stay about the same whether laws banning texting behind the wheel are in effect or not. The article “Laws Banning Cell Phone Use While Driving Have No Effect” reports “there are no reductions in crashes after hand-held phone bans take effect” (6). Insurance claim rates for crash damage are comparable in jurisdictions that have those laws and those that do not. Another study by Paul McNamara says that bans on texting while driving actually cause more accidents because it just causes drivers to attempt looking down to text in order to keep their phones out of sight.
On the other hand those who are against the freedom to text and drive contest that it will distract the driver because they will try to respond to a text rather than keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel. A different study by Maggie Fox says that texting should not be done while driving because it takes the driver’s attention away from the road which causes accidents. Texting is a choice given to anybody who will pay for the service just as driving is a choice given to anybody with a license, but it is the driver’s responsibility to choose whether to text or not text while driving.
The saying “with great power comes great responsibility” can be applied in the texting while driving debate. Driving is a minor power because anybody that is at least sixteen can drive if they have a license, but it is a power nonetheless. Everybody, no matter what the age, must take responsibility for their actions. Discovery Education did an article called “Texting and Driving”. In which it is explained that, “The desire to stay connected is so strong for teens and their parents that safety sometimes takes a backseat to staying in touch with friends and family”(4).
The article argues that teens are not responsible enough to watch the road when driving so they support the ban of texting while driving. On the other side of this debate, people agree that everyone needs to be responsible and cautious behind the wheel but they feel that teenagers, or anybody for that matter, are responsible enough to have the option of texting while driving. An Associated Press from The Sandusky Register suggests that if a person is responsible enough to drive then they should be able to text while driving. If a person is a good driver then texting while driving should be easy.
The Register argues that, if people are not allowed to text and drive, then why should they be able to eat and drive or put on make-up and drive? The choice of being able to text while driving is a big issue with supporters on both side of the argument. There is concern about reaction time, car accidents, and responsibility of the driver. This issue provides limited studies and there is evidence supporting both sides of the debate. But there are more studies needed before decisions can be made as to what is right and what is not.
As technology advances these types of issues will continue to present challenges. Works Cited 1. Associated Press. “Ohio Panel OKs Ban on Texting While Driving”. Sandusky Register. 31 March 2011. Web. 21 April 2011. 2. Austin, Michael. “Texting While Driving: How Dangerous Is It? ” . Car and Driver. June 2009. Web. Accessed 21 April 2011. 3. Degagne, Brittany and Mulvey, Sarah. “Texting While Driving and its Effect On Bristol Community College Students”. 08 November 2010. Web. Accessed 21 April 2011. 4. Discover Education. “Texting and Driving”. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. May 2010. Web. Accessed 21 April 2011. 5. Fox, Maggie. “Texting While Driving is bad, Doctors Agree”. Reuters. 10 November 2008. Web. Accessed 21 April 2011. 6. International Business Times. “Laws Banning Cell Phone Use While Driving Have No Effect”. 29 January 2010. Web. Accessed 21 April 2011. 7. Marks, Gabrielle. “Is Texting While Driving Worse Than Drunk Driving”. Sophisticated Edge. 18 April 2011. Web. Accessed 21 April 2011. 8. McNamara, Paul. “Texting While Driving Bans Don’t Work, May Actually Hurt”. Network World. 28 September 2010. Web. Accessed 21 April 2011.
