Develop Part 3: Possible Disadvantages, Answers, with Visuals (2 pages)
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eng215_-_assignment_4.docxRunning head: CELLPHONE USE WHILE DRIVING SOLUTION 1
CELLPHONE USE WHILE DRIVING SOLUTION 6
Assignment 4: Cellphone Use While Driving Solution
By
Angarag Ganbold
To
Dr. Saraswathi Lakshmanan
ENG215 – Research and Writing
Strayer University
05/22/2016
Cellphone Use While Driving Solution
Introduction
The use of cellphones has currently become incredibly rampant in society. It is through it that communication has been revolutionized and thus, as a result, people use it for any form of communication any time they feel like communicating with others. The portability of mobile phones is one of the main features that made people increase its usage and thus enabling its usage to attain about 33,565 million users by the year 2013 (Insurance Information, 2016). Despite these many advantages that the use of mobile phones has on those who use it, certain significant concerns are made regarding its usage. Since people have become used to communicating any time they want by the use of these devices, they have extended this usage even to when they are driving vehicles. While driving and communicating with other people at the same time, it is definite that an individual cannot be fully attentive to the activity of driving and thus he or she exposes himself and others to the risk of a road carnage (Insurance Information, 2016). There are however solutions that if implemented could solve the problem of this issue. This paper is thus guided by the thesis that “the problem of people driving while talking on cellphones which expose road users to the risk of road accidents has solutions that are highly advantageous if implemented.”
The use of mobile phones distracts drivers, who therefore in response divert their attention from the activity of driving to that of the speech they are having with the other individuals through the phone. Certain laws prohibit drivers from using their cell phones while they are driving, but these laws lack the necessary effectiveness, since, despite their being well stationed and implemented, some road accidents are still caused by drivers who are distracted by their cell phones. This problem, therefore, required an effective solution, through which people would respond and thus manage to solve the issue of accidents occurring due to drivers being distracted by their mobile phones while they are driving vehicles (Distraction.gov, 2016).
Solution to the problem
To fully eliminate the problem of people having to be victims of road accidents mainly because certain individuals were using their mobile phones while they were driving vehicles, there must be an effective solution that is put in place. An effective solution to this problem is creating a public awareness of the issue, and at the same time initiating a severe federal law, that will be used to judge drivers who are caught involving in this act. To begin with, drivers in most cases, see police officers while they are driving before the officers even ask them to pull over. It is thus extremely difficult for any officer to catch a driver using the phone, because any time the drive sees an officer, he or she being well aware of the law that prohibits the use of mobile phones while driving, stops using the phone. For this reason, therefore, formulating a law that indicates drivers should not use mobile phones while they are driving alone is not sufficient to solve this problem (Lissy, Cohen, Park, & Graham, 2000).
Creating a massive awareness where for example a campaign that explains how the use of mobile phones when people are driving, on the other hand, is a solution that when used together with a prohibiting law, capable of eliminating this problem completely. The campaign should mainly involve statistical revealing of the many accidents that have occurred earlier, mainly caused by drivers who decided to use their cell phones while they were driving vehicles. The campaign should convince individuals enough and wide, such that all people agrees with the fact that driving while at the same time using a cell phone is risky to not only the driver but all other people within the vehicle being driven and without. A free toll emergency response number should also be provided such that whenever people identified any driver who uses a cell phone while at the same time driving, is reported. Through this solution, it is likely therefore that all drivers would cease using their cell phones while they are driving,
First advantage of the solution
This solution has many advantages. To begin with, the drivers will not have the means and methods of hiding from being identified as they use the cell phones while they are driving vehicles. It is in very rare cases where people drive alone. When they are driving with other people, therefore, these other individuals including the driver himself, if the solution is implemented, will be well aware that using the cell phone will be placing the lives of all the people within the vehicle among others at risk. Since there are no people who would love to have their lives exposed to risk, every individual within the vehicle is likely to monitor the drive, with an aim of ensuring that he or she does not make the mistake of risking the lives of all individuals in the vehicle. In case, the driver feels that there is an extreme need to use the cell phones, the individual in the vehicle are even likely to be willing to allow him or her to pull over and use the phone for some time instead of risking their lives for those few minutes. In case the driver decides to use the phone anyway, the solution provides anybody who sees him or her with the option of reporting him, and thus he is apprehended and judged according to the law.
Second advantage to the solution
Another important advantage of this solution is the fact that the police officers are not the only ones that are provided with the ability to contribute in offering justice to drivers who make the decision of putting the lives of people at risk. As it has been, police officers being the only ones that can contribute to solving this problem make the solution extremely ineffective. The fact that, however, all individual have the means and methods through which they can contribute makes the solution easy to implement and highly effective. Although some people might be friends with the driver and thus decide not to report them, it is highly likely that other who are not willing to let that driver risk their lives will make the decision of reporting them and thus, as a result, the driver using the phone will be reported to the authorities. The authorities would then arrest the individual, and he is judged severely according to the law.
Third advantage to the solution
The other advantage of this solution is the fact that through it, many drivers are likely to decide to cease using cellphones without having to be forced by other people. There are a large number of people who involve in certain activities mostly because they are not aware of the ways that those activities negatively affect them. When they are informed of these factors, however, they are not likely to hesitate to eliminate their involvement in these activities. Taking the examples of the loving parents who however use cell phones while they are driving their kids to school or other places, if they would be aware of the risk they expose those kids and themselves too, it is likely that they would not use the cell phone while driving again. The campaign of awareness solution would create this awareness, and thus, all these individuals would not use their mobile phones while driving again (Regan, Lee, & Young, 2009).
Conclusion
The use of mobile phones is an extremely important factor for every individual since it enables people to communicate. Its use by people while they are driving, however, exposes people to the risks of major injuries or losing their lives in road carnages. Many solutions have been implemented with the event to solve this problem but have failed. A major solution that is capable of solving this issue, however, is the use of creating public awareness about that issue and providing people with the means of reporting the drivers they identify, who might be using cell phones as they drive. This solution, therefore, has high levels of effectiveness.
References
Distraction.gov. (2016). Facts and Statistics: Distracted Driving: New Jersey Avenue Washington DC. Retrieved from http://www.distraction.gov/stats-research-laws/facts-and-statistics.html
Lissy, K., Cohen, J., Park, M. & Graham, J. (2000). Cellular Phone Use While Driving: Risks and Benefits: Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1s2yxA2
Regan, M., Lee, J. & Young, K. (2009). Driver distraction theory, effects, and mitigation. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
