Effects of Texting While Driving Essay - 1147 Words

A word has started to appear in discussions of driving. The word is distracted. It refers to drivers who pay more attention to their cell phones, or their text messages, than they do to driving. The results can be fatal. One of the most common distractions today is texting. Each day in the United States, 9 people are killed and more than 1,060 people are injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver (Center). A couple of months ago, I and a friend were sitting at a red light waiting on green. We were talking about making plans for later that evening. We decided what to do as soon as the light turned green, we waited on the car in front of us to ease off the line. Then we were hit. This turned into a five car pileup.†¦show more content†¦Today, texting while driving out numbers the amount of drunk driving according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Texting while driving is six times more likely to cause a wreck than drunk driving. Yo u are 23 times more likely to wreck if you are texting. Texting while driving is equal to driving bind for 5 seconds each text. Out of the worlds’ population of over 7 billion, at any given moment all over the world, over 800,000 drivers are texting. Drivers think they can handle looking away for a second to reply, or read a message. By doing this you are decreasing your break reaction time by 18% (national). â€Å"The concentration needed for safe driving makes texting safely at the same time impossible† (Bratsis 70). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (C.D.C.) In 2010, 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. Of the 1,210 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2010, 211 (17%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver. Of the 211 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2010, over half (131) were riding in the vehicle with the alcohol-impaired driver. In 2010, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That is one percent of the 112 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.Show MoreRelatedCause and Effects of Texting While Driving1260 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿ Cause and Effects of Texting While Driving Texting while driving is a major issue affecting today’s society. Texting has grown to be one of the biggest forms of communication among people, despite the fact that some of these messages might be sent from behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. As a result, distracted driving often occurs removing the main objective a driver should be focusing on; the road ahead. Texting-related vehicular accidents and fatalities have caused a majority of statesRead MoreTexting And Driving Is A Growing Problem1736 Words   |  7 PagesTexting and Driving In 2012, Texas college student Chance Bothe was texting that he needed to stop texting because he said that he could die in a car accident (Zafar, 2012). He was driving at the same time, causing him to drive into a cliff. He miraculously survived but not without serious injuries – traumatic brain injuries, a fractured skull, a crushed face and a broken neck (Zafar, 2012). In 2013, 19-year old Elizabeth Haley Meyers was on her way to Royal Farms in Maryland when she hit 30-yearRead MoreEssay Accidents Caused by Texting and Driving 706 Words   |  3 Pagesnumber of teens texting while driving has risen . Researchers at Cohen Childrens Medical Center New Hyde Park estimated 3,000 annual teen deaths nationwide from texting and 300,000 injuries (Ricks). This is more than the number of teens who drink and drive. 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