Preview

Teenage Driver: The Dangers Of Teenage Driving

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
668 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Teenage Driver: The Dangers Of Teenage Driving
One of the biggest perks of being a teenager is being able to drive. When a teenager begins to drive, they are happy and feel like they have more freedom. However, the dangers of teenage driving are higher than ever. According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, “Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15-20 year-olds” (“California”). Teenage drivers create many dangerous distractions when behind the wheel of a vehicle. These distractions usually occur in three different areas: visual, cognitive, and manual.
The first major way a teenage driver may become distracted is becoming visually distracted. Some teenage drivers can become distracted by other things happening outside of their vehicle. Whether it be looking at different cars on the highway or looking at the passing restaurants, some teenage drivers will become distracted and take their
…show more content…
When a teenage driver is manually distracted, it means that they are using their hands for something rather than steering the vehicle. Most teenagers today are more worried about “Instagram” and “Snapchat” rather than paying attention while driving. When a teenager’s phone rings, they will more than likely answer it, no matter if they are driving or not. According to “Because Texting and Driving Kills,” “Five seconds is the minimum amount of time a teenager is distracted if texting and driving. At 55 miles per hour, the teenage driver travels the length of a football field without looking at the road” (“Because”). Some teenage drivers think that only texting is a distraction and talking on the phone isn’t. Those teenagers are sorely mistaken because according to The AAA Guide to Teen Driver Safety, “Talking on a cell phone can double the chance for an accident.” While teenagers may have their eyes on the road while talking on a phone, they do not however have their hands on the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Getting into high school and becoming a driver is something that is very exciting, although sometimes teen drivers can be dangerous because of being distracted. Many states have looked for solutions to help put an end to reckless, unsafe driving. This is very important and needs to be stopped, the solutions that will help are parents playing more of a role in teens learning how to drive, more up-to-date training and laws prohibiting friends and cell phones.…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Buckley, L., Chapman, R. L., & Sheehan, M., (2014) Young Driver Distraction: State of the Evidence and Directions for Behavior Change Programs, Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 54, Issue 5, Supplement, May 2014, Pages S16-S21, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.12.021.…

    • 107 Words
    • 1 Page
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hope Teen Driving Project

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Cell phones and driving is a problem for teen drivers because teens usually have phones with them all the time. If you have a notification, you are tempted to check it, maybe answer a phone call? If teens are doing this on the road, it could turn into a more serious issue than it already is and be the reason for car crashes.…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory 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
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One way people get distracted while driving is texting. For the last ten years texting while driving has cause death of many young people. This is why I try to keep my phone in my cup holder because I do not want to be the next victim of texting driving. Young people will never get the point that texting and driving will kill them. Some young people head is so hard that they feel like nobody can tell them anything. The ones…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nearly every teenager looks forward to driving, it represents independence and freedom. While this new found freedom is great for the teenage driver, it represents fear and sleepless nights for parents. Today, not only does a parent have to worry about how their teenage son/daughter is driving but what they are doing while they are driving. In the past, the biggest fear of a parent was whether their child was…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Distracted Driving

    • 2854 Words
    • 8 Pages

    How does Distracted Driving effect teens in society today? There are many distractions that teens face today. Research has given the basic reasons why there is distracted driving like: peer pressure, technology, speeding, violating laws, and driving under the influence. In the year of 2011 distracted related crashes have claimed 3331 lives and injured 416,387 people nationwide. With this drastic number of lives being affected many states have put more laws on driving, especially for teens, because the amounts of distractions on the road that are increasing every year. They also have made more social marketing ways to show teens how to prevent distracted driving and results distracted driving can cause. From this, teens will get a better understanding of the dangers they can cause by not being careful on the road. If teens are shown examples of another individuals tragedy because of distracted driving they themselves will take more caution. Teenagers need to understand that an automobile can easily turn into a weapon if the driver is not take all responsibly to give their undivided attention to the road they are traveling on. They need better guidance from adults on their lives as well. They should learn from example and not be the example.…

    • 2854 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cell phones are an amazing advance in technology but it is illegal for teenagers to use them while driving. Using a cell phone while driving is very dangerous because it takes away the main sense of focus that is needed to drive. Cell phones are a biomechanical distraction due to the need of grabbing it and to tap and swipe to navigate the screen. Cell phones are also a visual distraction because people need to look at the phone to navigate through the phone. Cell phones can become an auditory distraction through music that teens might play or if they make a phone…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Distracted driving has always been a problem with our country since cars were invented but recently it has become an even bigger issue, now it is the leading cause of teen deaths. In our day and age cars have gotten faster and technology has gotten more advanced. We now have cell phones that can do multiple things and our cars also have their own technology. Cell phones pose the main threat towards distracted driving especially for teens. Since phones have been getting more advanced and being able to do more things on them, teens are especially susceptible to being on their phone while driving.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Distracted Driving

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Despite the fact that it deadens a driver's reactions more than alcohol, and in its consequences is as destructive and devastating as drunk driving, attitudes to driving while using a hand-held mobile phone and driving under the influence could not be more different. Distracted driving is the number one killer of American teens. Alcohol-related accidents among teens have dropped. But teenage traffic fatalities have remained unchanged, because distracted driving is on the rise. While over 90% of teen drivers say they don't drink and drive, nine out of 10 say they've seen passengers distracting the driver, or drivers using cell phones.…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Drving While Texting

    • 2224 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Texting while driving is not a good habit, with just moving our eyes from the road to answer a simple message can cause someone life. According to Ian Mulgrew, a journalist author from Canada, many accidents are blamed on distracted driving and most of the distractions are caused by cell phone usage. There are many laws being established to try to prevent distracted driving from happening; although they can’t completely stop it. No matter what age of the driver is, under no circumstance should they be texting while driving. Texting or using a cell phone while driving is very hazardous to yourself and the people surrounding you. However, the lives of innocent people are being taken every day due to a simple distraction. According to Mulgrew, car crashes are four times more common to take place while the driver is on their mobile device over any other causes. According to Bret Schulte, talking on a cell phone is not as dangerous as texting these days.in addition, while talking on the phone, it is easier to still keep focused on the road in front of the driver. But when they engage in a text message, it’s not possible to look in both directions at once, therefore all of their focus goes straight to the screen of the cell phone. It’s hard for all drivers, especially teenagers, to put down the cell phone and put their hands on the wheel, which results in many car crashes.…

    • 2224 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many challenges that teens face. They face drugs and peer pressure, but the main cause of teen death in the United States is caused by reckless driving, drunk driving, and texting while driving. They sometimes make these poor choices because they don't know their certain limits. Often times, they make these decisions and it’s too late for them to see the consequences. Teens should be aware of the consequences of breaking these rules that could impact their life or someone else's. Making teens aware can make other people feel safe when they are on the road.…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 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
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Statistics of Driving

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Driving is a very dangerous and often hazardous thing to do. This is especially true for people ages fifteen to nineteen. There are so many crashes each year for teen drivers that it’s a miracle anyone makes it past twenty years old unharmed. In 2009 alone three hundred and fifty teens were treated for a car related accident.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” The same goes for driving. The more you do it the better you get. Per mile driven teenage drivers aged 16-19 are nearly three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and older to be in a fatal crash due to speeding (Prevention). Teens especially 16 year olds have less experience than other drivers. Due to the lack of experience teens…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays