DRIVER’S ED PROJECT
CELL PHONES & DRIVING
ANNA NGUYEN
PART ONE – IDENTIFY THE ISSUE
660,000 drivers in the United States use their cell phones during the day as a way to communicate. However, cell phone usage whilst driving is a major contribute to fatal car crashes. Many people, especially teenagers who use their cell phones when they are driving think that answering a text, e-mail or surfing the web is more important than keeping their eyes on the road. Statistics show that texting while driving has the capability of making the driver 23 times more likely to crash. A teenage driver texting while they are driving gives them the reaction time of a 70 year old. Teenagers from ages 15 to 19 make up the largest group of distracted drivers and
11% of drivers around those ages were reported to be involved in fatal car crashes from distraction. The Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety says that using cell phones while driving kills 11 teens every single day. 46% of teens admit to texting behind the wheel. 60% of teenager drivers say that texting when driving is dangerous but half of them admit to doing it anyways.
The issue of texting while driving is being addressed by many organizations. There are many websites that list tips that will decrease the number of fatal crashes due to distraction. Stoptextsstopwrecks.org is a website affiliated with the NHTSA that provides simple tips that can help keep roads safe such as putting your phone somewhere you won’t pay attention to it, tuning the ringer off while you drive, downloading an app that alerts you to not text when you’re driving, or if your text is that important and you have a passenger in the car, have them text for you! AAA has been working since 1984 to educate people about the risk of and prevent distracted driving through social media, brochures and pamphlets, community events and driver’s education classes.
PART 2 – SOLUTIONS FOR THE ISSUE
An idea to solve the issue of distractions while driving is for cars to carry a device that can detect when someone in the drivers seat is using their cellphone instead of paying attention to the road. It can beep to let the person know they need to get off of their phone and drive safely!
To make more people aware, I can personally create bumper stickers to give out to people. I can also spread that driving without the use of a phone is safer for everyone on social media. Since a lot of people use social media, many people will be able to see it. Starting an organization in my community would also be beneficial since there are a lot of teenagers around my age that live in my neighborhood. SOURCES
http://exchange.aaa.com/safety/distracted-driving/what-is-aaa-doing
-about-distracted-driving
/
https://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cause-of-accident/cell-ph one/cell-phone-statistics.html http://www.stoptextsstopwrecks.org/#home
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