Assignment Help Unit 5 Part 2

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Most people know that sending text messages while driving increases the risk of crashing. Conversations over the cell phone cause impairment of the driving ability too. The use of cell phones when driving causes serious public threats that result into motor vehicle crashes and deaths every year.

Thesis Statement: The dangers of using cell phones while driving

Subtopic I: The distraction caused by listening and responding to a cell phone causes huge driving impairments.

a. Drivers using cell phones may not see half of the objects in their driving surrounding

b. There is delayed response and time for reaction when drivers are talking on hands free or handheld cell phones.

c. Drivers who are listening to their cell phones have problems sticking to their lane

Subtopic II: Potential consequences of cell phone distraction while driving

a. Being involved in an accident

b. Criminal penalties

c. Higher insurance premiums

d. Lost driving privileges

Subtopic III: There should be a law that bans cell phone use by drivers 

a. This would reduce distracted driving

b. This would decrease accidents and preserve lives

c. Calling can be as distracting as texting

d. The ban would bring to attention that no distractions are acceptable when driving

Human brains have a challenge in managing multiple tasks that require attention. Talking on the hands free or the hand held cell phone while driving may increase the risk of a driver causing a crash. Mental disruptions such as cell phone conversations can take the mind of the driver off the road, and the driver loses focus on the road hence the driving ability is impaired (Weller, 2013). Using a cell phone while driving at a higher speed especially with other drivers in close distance, decreases a drivers margin of any mistake for making a decision and response time to avoid crashing.

The use of cell phones is related with both a fourfold rise in road crashes serious enough to injure the driver and a fourfold rise in the damage of property only crashes. When drivers are intoxicated from ethanol, they display aggressive driving style and applying more force while breaking (Weller, 2013). It has been proved that the relative risk of being involved in a traffic accident while using cell phones is almost the same as hazards associated with driving when having alcohol level in the blood above the legal limit.

Concentration on a cell phone conversation competes for the available resources in the brain in a way that the driver cannot listen to any other voice. This is what results to impairment. Listening to a cell phone while driving leads to numerous driving impairments which may include; in attention blindness which affects the drivers’ vision through their windshield and the driver is not able to monitor the environment (Lee, 2013). The other effect is slow response time, where the driver’s reaction is delayed due to the increased attention on the cell phone. A fraction of a second can cause the difference between crashing or not, injury or no injury and death or no death. Drivers should understand that distractions on the road pose a danger to the passengers and the environment too.

When some behaviors are perceived to be dangerous every state goes ahead to draft laws that make those behaviors illegal and specific punishments are formulated. Failing to stop for a school bus, drunk driving and disobeying the red lights are examples of some of these behaviors. Using the cell phone when driving should not be an exception bearing in mind the number of accidents that it has caused (Nasar & Troyer, 2013). Laws on careless and negligent driving are not adequate to punish drivers who break the law. Many states have made some types of cell phone use illegal for drivers when driving. Some of this bans apply to both handheld cell phone use and also texting.

Bills to control cell phone use while driving have been introduced in the state legislatures, and they should be passed. The number of individuals using cell phones while driving has highly increased (Nasar & Troyer, 2013). Research shows that drivers using cell phones while driving have the same ability as a drunk driver and are not able to view objects in their marginal vision. These drivers are four times more probable to cause road crashes than drivers who avoid using cell phones while driving.

References

Weller, J. A., Shackleford, C., Dieckmann, N., & Slovic, P. (2013). Possession attachment predicts cell phone use while driving. Health psychology, 32(4), 379.

Lee, V. K., Champagne, C. R., & Francescutti, L. H. (2013). Fatal distraction Cell phone use while driving. Canadian Family Physician, 59(7), 723-725.

Nasar, J. L., & Troyer, D. (2013). Pedestrian injuries due to mobile phone use in public places. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 57, 91-95.