Are you sick and tired of having your life endangered by drivers who feel they are too important to put their phones down and pay attention to what is going on around them while they are driving? Well many people are? There are already many distractions that a person has to avoid while driving, or even when they are walking down the street, let alone texting and cell phone use. Anything can happen at any given moment in this life. What would you do if it was you driving and you were the one who hit your family member of someone you knew?It would be very devasting and your life would go on even after the short period of grief, but you would have to live with that for the rest of your life. Once information is presented why cell phones are a big distraction, one should be convinced not to use their cell phone while driving and remember to “to drive now and talk later”. We all need to take a stand, because we risk not only our lives, but the lives of others. Could you imagine getting a phone call that one of your family members had been hit by a driver that was texting, or answering a phone call while they were trying to operate their vehicle?Most of us would probably say: “Oh that will or could never happen to me”, But, when it does it makes you sit back and start thinking about what you can do different in order to avoid any type of accidents.
Phone technology has come a long way from when it was first invented back in the 1800’s. Technology has had a major impact on the way we all function in our personal and professional lives, such as email, sending information by fax, to getting lost in our own little world with our iPod, to social networking.But with all the technological advances made over the last few decades there is one that I feel that really stands out above the rest and that is the cell phone. The cell phone has become part of everyone’s life and has improved them in so many ways. Such as being able to communicate at any time, any place, to checking our emails when away from home or work, taking pictures, and texting at the same time. But at the same time they have had a negative impact on many of peoples life’s when one is injured or killed in an accident due to the use of the cell phone.
I recently did a survey asking questions to both teenagers and adults, and the results were shocking. Amongst the teenagers surveyed, 20% of them still use their cell phones while driving, even though they are aware that they could cause an accident and or hit someone. 45% of the teenagers said they have almost been hit while walking because they were too busy paying attention to their cell phone or iPod. Same questions were asked to the adults and about 50% of the adults stated they have almost being in an accident because they were using their cell phone, but they still are using them even after these close calls they have had. 5% percent of the adults’ survey stated they have almost gotten hit while walking while using their cell phone, and they have even been pulled back from someone who was near them to avoid getting hit.
Both teenagers and adults agreed that they should be more of their surroundings and pay less attention to their cell phones, especially when it comes to driving or walking down the street. I went even further to try to prove that cell phones are a distraction and people would not notice of what was going on around them.I figured that people so involved into their conversation on their cell phone that they would not notice the obvious events happening in the world around them. I also figure people are so engrossed in their phone they had “Intentional Blindness”, meaning that they looked around at their surroundings as they talked, but none of it registered.
So in order to test this theory, a friend dressed up as superman for a day and we went to downtown Salt Lake.I did two studies where I kept track of a total of 1032 pedestrians, noting whether they were walking without any distractions, such as listening to music, talking with a friend or talking on their phone. During the first study I notice that people who were talking on cellphone walked more slowly, changed directions more frequently and were often weaving off course. They were also less likely to acknowledge other people with a head or a wave, and some of them almost got hit by a car.
Next my friend started walking around, crossing the street just like a regular pedestrian without saying a word.After each pedestrian crossed the street, I asked if they saw anything unusual. I was shocked at the responses; about one in three who were listening to their iPods or walking alone said they saw something, that they thought it might be superman. Now nearly 50 percent of the people who were with someone said they had noticed the guy in the superman outfit. 70 percent of the pedestrians remembered seeing superman. Whereas the numbers where higher when the same prompt was given to people listening to music (60 percent) and those who were walking alone, was about 45 percent.
Now among the people who had been using their cell phones, about 25 percent remember seeing superman, which was low and not a surprise. What this proved is that even during a simple task as walking, performance drops off, when one is using their cell phone where it is texting or carrying a conversation. People are slower, they are tuned into their own little own world and are not aware of their surroundings and start weaving around more. It shows how much worse it would be if they were driving a car, which would be more of a complex task to manage.According the National Safety Council, drivers who use cell phones while driving are 4 times likely to be involved in a crash. This is because our brain can’t effectively multi-task.
Have you ever tried watching your favorite TV show and hold a serous conversation? It’s a win-lose situation because you are going to miss the details from one of the two. It is the same thing when you are using your cell phone while driving. Driving requires our visual, manual, auditory, and cognitive abilities. So if one is talking, texting, surfing the web while driving, these abilities will be impaired.According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nearly 6,000 people killed in 2008 and more than 500,000 people were injured due to distractions while driving, which was in a published report in September 2009.
“A 1997 study in the New England Journal of Medicine said the handheld phones posed about as much of a problem for drivers as drunken driving” (“N. Y. Passes Phone”).In addition, cell phones are said to be the second-leading cause of accidents involving motor vehicles (“N.
Y. Passes Phone”). Many statistics are only projecting what will happen and don’t look at what is currently happening. "A new federal analysis of 1997 crash data by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration estimated that cellular phones were a factor in only 2500 deaths” (“Why We Should”).
On top of this, “according to the Department of Transportation, of the 330,000 total accidents recorded, cell phones were a contributing factor” (Earle, Rick). In comparison, other distractions result in 8% of accidents.Although cell phones have their bad sides, they are also used for over eighteen-million emergency calls per year, many by drivers trying to get help to the crash scene (“Why We Should”). Statistics show that from 2003 to 2008 the number of accidents that were caused by drivers using their cell phones increased from 636,000 to an astounding 1.
6 million (CBSNews, 2010). This growing trend shows the use of the cell phone while driving is a dangerous activity and has severe consequences for many individuals, and therefore should be prohibited to help ensure the safety on our roads.Taking your attention away from the road for any reason is not only a detriment to yourself but to others as well. While most important people realize that driving a vehicle is a privilege and responsibility that should be taken very seriously, there are some people that believe that the convenience factor outweighs the risk.
When one uses a cell phone while driving they become distracted and become so involved with their conversation, they might not notice a traffic signal and run a red light and cause an accident, or they may not be able to keep the proper speed limit.How does one explain to the officer that he or she was on the phone and did not see the light turn red? Studies show that a driver’s reaction time may be reduced by at least 20 percent. In which it may hinder a driver’s level of performance causing accidents to happen while in traffic. So in order for drivers to stay safe, protect other drivers and pedestrians, they should put their cell phone down, keep their eyes on the road and stay focus on the traffic so that they are obey the traffic laws.Some professors at the University of Utah did a study on the usage of cell phone usage and found that motorists who talk on their cell phones while driving are as impaired as drunken drivers with blood-alcohol levels at the legal limit of 0. 08 percent.
Professor David Strayer, who helped with the study stated: “Just like you put yourself and other people at risk when you drive drunk, you put yourself and others at risk when you use a cell phone and drive. The level of impairment is very similar.Now no one can deny that cell phones have caused traffic deaths and injuries. Cell phones were implicated in three fatal accidents in November 1999 alone. Early in November, two year-old Morgan Pena was killed by a driver who was distracted by his cell phone. Morgan’s Mother, Patti Pena, reports that the driver ran a stop sign at 45mph, broadsided my vehicle and killed Morganas she sat in her car seat (Pena).
A week later, corrections officer Shannon Smith, who was guarding prisoners by the side of the road, was killed by a women distracted by a phone call (Besthoff).When you look at expert testimony, public opinion, and even cartoons they all suggest that driving while using the phone is dangerous as well. Frances Bents, who is an expert on the relation between cell phone users and accidents, she estimates that there is about 1,000 crashes a year that have some connection to cell phone use (Layton C9). In a survey that was done by Farmers Insurance, 87% stated that when one uses a cell phone it affects the drivers ability, 40% said they have had close calls with drivers who were distracted by cell phones.There has been many cartoon artist who have depicted the dangers of driving while distracted ( Fig 1.
). I recall a time when I was driving the train, was starting to pull away, and noticed a young person looking talking on their cell phone, when I thought it was safe I started pull away from the station, and all of a sudden the male walked in front of my train, and he was killed. This would have never happen if he were not talking on his cellphone and paying attention. Cell phones do allow us to communicate with family members at any place and any time.
They also make us feel safer when we are driving and there is an emergency that comes up, such as a vehicle break down. By having the cell phone in this type of situation at least we will not feel completely stranded because we have our phone with us at all times. Finally I would like to share some tips with you that can assist you in avoiding collisions while driving, or being the next victim of a car or train. * Turn your phone off before you start driving, or put it on vibrate and let callers leave a message. * If there are passengers in the car, let them take or make the call.If expecting an important call, let someone else do the driving, or give the person a best time call so you will not be worried if you missed them not.
* If you need to make or take a call, look for a safe opportunity to pull over and park * If you are near any trains or crosswalk, look up, put your cell phone down and pay attention In conclusion I hope that the information that I have provided: Dangers of cell phones use while driving, supporting facts and statistical information, tips to avoid collisions have persuaded you not to use your cell phone while driving,
