Preview

Driving Distracted Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
649 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Driving Distracted Essay
“Driving Distracted”
Distractions are all over the place, and many of today’s drivers get caught up with these risky habits. “Distracted driving is any non-driving activity a person engages in that has the potential to distract him or her from the primary task of driving, or to increase the risk of crashing.” (“Distracted Driving”). Interferences or bad habits mainly include cell phones with teenagers being the most likely to use their phones. Other disturbances may include passengers, dropping belongings, eating, drinking, a wandering mind, or even things outside of the vehicle. The worst part is drivers do not even notice their problems. Seconds count in life, and life is not worth losing over a text message or a phone call. In 2011, unfocused, diverted drivers caused ten percent of crashes resulting in death. Of all these crashes, over 3,331 people lost their lives with another 387,000 injured. These people who either killed or injured were mainly the drivers of the vehicles. In these crashes, 385 died and five percent of the injured were hurt because someone was on a cell phone. Cell phones account for twelve percent of deadly crashes with teenagers the most likely to cause them (Distracted Driving 2011). Talking on the phone is like drinking and
…show more content…
Lack of sleep, cigarettes, food, drinks, and day dreaming are also common interferences during driving (Distracted Driving 2011). Reaching for an object raises the chance for crashes by almost nine percent, being sleepy increased it by four times, and reading is three times more likely to result in a crash (Distracted Driving). For instance, all Betty has to do is look down for her sunglasses for a matter of seconds or play with her hair to lose control of her car and endanger her life, passengers, and pedestrians. Life is too important to waste on doing makeup or picking up a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Driver distraction can be defined as a diversion of the mental attention away from activities or skills needed for safe driving and completion of the activity. A distraction is a fact of having a person’s concentration disturbed by any external or internal stimuli. (Regan, 2007) When drivers are distracted, their attention is divided between the “primary tasks” of driving and “secondary non-driving tasks” such as conversation, radio listening, and technology use. These external stimuli causes the driver’s cognitive skills to be used to analyse both the road situation and the secondary task, resulting to the impairment of the driver’s situational consciousness, decision-making skills and driving performance. Driver distractions…

    • 216 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this article “Distracted Driving”, many distractions are mentioned other than just cell phone usage, such as changing the radio station or driving with kids in the back seat. It is stated that the dangers from distracted driving are because of the decrease in brain function and inability to pay full attention to the road. These practices lead to wrecks and in many cases death.…

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Distracted driving is exactly what it sounds like. Distracted driving is driving while distracted. These distractions can range anywhere from eating to using a cell phone while driving- texting or calling, from loud music to having friends and family members in the car with you while you are driving. Almost anything can be a distraction as long as it takes your attention away from driving for anytime as short as five seconds. In fact, one study it said that eighty percent of all crashes and collisions and that at least sixty five percent of near crashes and collisions have to do with the driver being inattentive or distracted while behind the wheel. Three seconds may not seem like a very long at all, and it may not be…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Driver Ed Teen Project

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Distractions, such as talking or texting on a cell phone, can cause drivers to take their eyes off the road for a few seconds, long enough to have difficulty responding to hazards and staying in their lane. These seemingly innocuous acts also can affect their mental focus. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that cell phone use behind the wheel actually reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent ("A dangerous distraction," 2013). A report from the University of Utah (search) says when motorists between 18 and 25 talk on cell phones, they drive like elderly people — moving and reacting more slowly and increasing their risk of accidents ("Study: Teens on," 2005). It doesn't matter whether the phone is hand-held or hands-free. Any activity requiring a driver to "actively be part of a conversation" likely will impair driving abilities ("Study: Teens on," 2005). A 1997 Canadian study published in The New England Journal of Medicine used phone records to evaluate cell phone use patterns. Crash risk was found to be four times greater when drivers were using a cell phone, whether hand-held or hands-free. A more recent study using simulators published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology reported similar findings ("A dangerous distraction," 2013).…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Texting and Driving

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages

    them and even where their going and how all this distraction is due to cell phone…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Distracted Driving

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Distracted driving takes the lives of thousands of people in the United States each year. 5,870 people were killed in 2008 and an additional 515,000 were reported injured due to distracted driving. According to the United States Department of Transportation there are three types of driver distractions; visual, manual, and cognitive. Visual distractions lead the drivers to take their eyes off of the road. Manual distractions lead the drivers to take their hands off of the steering wheel. Cognitive distractions lead the drivers to take their minds off of what they are doing. Experts say that texting is the most dangerous activity while driving because it involves all three types of distractions, but many parents will say otherwise.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For someone to be multitasking between driving and looking at their phone to change a song that is a distracted driver (“Policy statement and compiled FAQs on distracted driving,” n.d.). In 2014, 3,179 people were killed, and 431,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers (“Distracted driving: Facts and statistics,” n.d.). The reality is that people being distracted is not just because of texting while driving. According to a survey AT&T conducted, a huge shocking 70% of people behind the wheel of a car was found using their phones, and while texting and emailing was the most popular task at 61%. The huge shocker to me was that 17% of distracted drivers were found taking a selfie while driving (Chang,…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Distracted Drivers

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Distracted drivers?” The thoughts of what appear in my mind when I hear the words “distracted drivers” is not of a good thought but that of a horrible situation to be in. Many drivers in today’s society have caused many road accidents due to their incapability of watching the road before them because they are distracted. There are many different reasons why drivers could be distracted, for example: cellphones, other accompanied people in the vehicle, intoxicated driving, or simply being distracted by outside objects.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Distracted Driving

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There are 3092 fatalities linked to distracted drivers in 2019 and 5474 distraction related fatalities reported in 2010. Drivers must take their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel to manipulate the devices when dialing, texting, and surfing the web. They can also become so absorbed in their conversation and other uses that their ability to concentrate on the act of driving is severely impaired.…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Texting and Driving

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As if drunk driving wasn't dangerous enough, put anyone with a cell phone behind the wheel and it gets much worse. "Vehicle crashes are one of the top causes of death for just 15-20 year olds" (Thomas, 2009). "Emma Vieira, 19, of Colchester, Vermont, left a woman in a coma and killed a dog as a result of an accident back in August of 2011. Vieira was texting at the time of the accident. About 6,000 deaths are…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Distracted Driving Essay

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Even though distracted driving causes disastrous accidents, some people still believe that they are experienced drivers who could perform another task while driving at the same time. Since the start of the cell phone era, rates of vehicle collisions, caused by distracted driving, has increased dramatically. The rates of car accidents in the U.S. “rose 7.2% last year to 35,092—the largest increase in 50 years—and distracted driving played a role in 10% of those deaths (Darrow). The main cause of distracted driving is the use of an electronic device while driving.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Distracted driving is when you drive and pay no attention to the most important thing you are doing which is obviously driving; because of distracted driving, 11 teens die every day. This should be stopped to protect not only drivers but passengers, and anyone that could be hit by the vehicle. The number one reason for distracted driving is use of the cell phone behind the wheel, and 21% of teens were in fatal accidents because of this tiny screen. Relative to this, starting on September 1st, 2017 it became illegal to be on your phone while behind the wheel in Texas. Distracted driving should be put to an end to save not only drivers but bystanders too. So do what's best and do yourself a favor and pay attention while driving.…

    • 134 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Distracted Driving Essay

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Distractive driving causes you to not only get into an accident, but it can also cause you to lose focus. When we are driving a car, we are constantly looking ahead looking for things that could possibly cause a distraction to us. Some distractive things while driving could be, receiving text messages or calls, music playing from the radio, construction vehicles, a billboard sign, an accident, or even someone pulled over to the side of the road. Even if we don’t notice some of the things distracting, there are things everywhere that could possibly distract you from being focused on driving a car. There are different parts of our brain that come into play when we drive a car.…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Every year about 6,000 teenagers, aged sixteen through twenty, die in motor vehicle accidents. According to Allstate Insurance spokeswoman Megan Brunet, of those 6,000 deaths, eighty-seven percent of them are caused by driving distractions. There are many different types of driving distractions and they can all be categorized into three main subgroups; visual, which would be taking your eyes off the road, manual, would be taking your hands off the wheel and cognitive, which is taking your mind off what you are doing. Some examples of distractions that a driver will encounter would be using a cell phone, eating and drinking, talking to passengers, grooming themselves or using a navigation system and music player in the vehicle all while driving.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Driving Distraction Essay

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Many people get caught up in thoughts from work, home, school; their plans for the next day. And they don’t stop and think if they will even get to see their next day. Out of the three distracted driving activities mentioned, I believe occupants in people’s vehicles take the majority of their attention. Passengers often forget the responsibility their destined drivers have to get everyone home safe. The amount of times I hear my sister shout out, “Oh my gosh, look!”…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays