Persuasive Essay On Distracted Driving

Texting While Driving: A Killing Addiction How often are drivers distracted while driving without even knowing it? Playing with the radio, adjusting the mirrors, drinking a beverage, are all forms of distracted driving, but the king of them all is most certainly texting. Jason Gage, an everyday driver, was coming home from work on a perfect night in May of 2011, when he struck and killed a walking college student named Kyle Rowley. The police believed that Gage was probably viewing or sending a text around the time of the crash and was charged with reckless driving. At his court hearing, the charges were dropped because texting alone could not be proof of reckless driving (Jouvenal). Kyle Rowley, an innocent pedestrian, was killed because Gage was texting and driving. Nothing was done because this crime has
little to no laws to justify it. This is one of many reasons why texting and driving should be a primary offense in all 50 states. Texting and driving is a very dangerous decision for someone to make and should have consequences for people who decide to do so.
In America, only 39 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia have primary laws against texting and driving (Copeland). An action that takes an individual’s attention off the road for seconds at a time, should be illegal in all fifty states. Some people think it should be up to the state whether it is illegal or not, but the states who remain without any laws are at serious risk. Stephanie Hanes, a writer for the Christian Science Monitor states, “a driver on a phone had the same reaction speed as someone legally intoxicated, that those talking on a phone behind the wheel are four times as likely to crash.” Over the course of time, technology has become more and more popular all over the world. Without even realizing it, people are constantly checking their phones. Taking their minds off whatever task they are performing, especially driving. Whether it is checking an email, text message, time, or even answering the phone, all take a driver’s concentration off the road, just enough time for an individual to lose their
life. The dangers that come with texting and driving is something that people don’t understand. A person that texts while driving has a 23 times greater chance to get in a crash rather than someone driving with no distractions (Jouvenal). In many cases, texting while driving is becoming a natural habit to most people. It is known as one of the deadliest forms of distracted driving because it occupies a driver’s eyes, hands, and mind (Copeland). Simply readjusting the driver’s seat belt is enough of a distraction to cause an accident. Where texting and driving takes a person’s concentration completely off driving, they are far more likely to get in an accident. A survey taken in 2012 stated that 81% of drivers of age viewed texting while driving a very serious threat to safety. With that, 35% had read a text, and 27% have typed and sent a message while driving within the previous month (Copeland). If people are aware that this is a very dangerous action why not take precaution? Most individuals think that they are approaching texting and driving in a very safe manner. The only problem is that there is nothing safe about it. The statistics show that a human’s driving skills decrease tremendously when being distracted by their phones. Safety officials say that far more people use electronic gadgets while driving than drivers who drink and drive (Hanes).A problem with today’s teens is they don’t look at this situation as harmful. Kids today use their phone at all times, which feels like the natural thing to do. A very strong remark was made by Copeland during the passage which stated, “young drivers fear a ticket more than they fear an injury or death.” Most teenagers are more worried about losing their licenses or getting a fine then losing their life to distracted driving. In all of the states that have bans on texting and driving, only a majority of them have it as a primary offense. For the rest of them, this crime is only treated as a secondary offense. For example, in California where it is a primary offense, cops can pull over a driver if they see them texting or on their phone at all, and penalize them for it, whereas in New York, it is treated as a secondary offense, where cops must see some other infraction first. This means that in order for someone to get a ticket for texting, they must be doing another illegal act such as speeding (Precious). States that only have secondary laws or no laws at all over the case of texting and driving are foolish. The state of Washington saw a 143% increase in the number of citations issued for texting and driving after switching the crime from a secondary to a primary offense (Precious). By doing this it allows police to enforce the law without creating compliance. Accusing someone of texting and driving is already an extremely difficult task for cops. It is almost impossible for a police officer to charge someone for this violation in states that treat it as a secondary offense. Tom Precious, a writer for the Buffalo News claims that, “Enforcing texting bans is harder than catching those talking on their cells, chiefly because when drivers are texting, they keep their phones on their lap below the window line.” For a cop to catch a driver’s eyes glaring at their phones while operating their own vehicle is a very challenging duty. A more efficient system needs to be developed in order to catch and reduce the number of texting drivers as it is becoming a growing concern in the driving community. Texting and driving should be a primary offense in all 50 states. Over the years, more and more car accidents are the result of people who text and drive. Not only are people getting injured, but they are getting killed over the dangerous distraction. To improve a driver’s safety, stricter laws need to be made to reduce a person’s urge to text while driving. This should no longer be up to a state committee to decide the consequences; it is to the point where the federal government needs to be involved. Drivers also need to take responsibility for their own lives and simply stay off their phones while driving.