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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…
“Amanda Clark’s phone conversation came to an abrupt end when her Chevrolet Trailblazer rolled three times before landing on its roof. She’d run a stop sign and was broadsided by another driver. Metal caved in around her but the roof stayed intact and she survived with just scrapes and bruises” (Tracy). This story of Amanda Clark’s car accident caused by distracted driving is common among people. “In 2014, 3,179 people were killed, and 431,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers (“Distracted Driving: Facts”).” In Idaho, between the years of 2010-2014, distracted driving caused 1,557 serious injury crashes and 207 fatal crashes. Two hundred twenty-three people were killed and 2,018 people were injured ("Distracted…
This article is another informative work on the dangers on distracted driving. This article, however, includes distractions from hands-free devices that allow one to have a phone conversation without holding a phone to his or her ear. A study showed that someone texting or having a conversation on a wireless headset drove as poorly as someone whose blood alcohol concentration was above the legal limits in Australia and Spain, where this was tested (0.5 grams per liter). The study also found that when the conversation over the headset was simple, the driver drove as someone under the influence of alcohol with a 0.4 g/L BAC. When the conversation was intense, the driver drove similar to someone with a BAC of 0.7, which is almost illegal in the United States. When texting, the study found someone drives similar to someone with a BAC of 1, which is illegal in every country mentioned.…
Statistics prove driver distraction can cause accidents, injuries and death. In the article “Distracted Driving: Facts and Statistics” states “In 2014, 3,179 people were killed, and 431,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers” (par. 5). Distracted driving is increasing as media and electronic devices are improving. From 2005 to 2008, distracted driving has increased. In 2005 there were 4572 fatalities involving distracted driving. It increased to 5870 fatalities in 2008. A 28% incline of accidents as more electronic devices are developing. In 2008,…
Every day that people drive and do not get in an accident, think of how many other people do. Each day there are over a 1,000 people who are getting hurt by distracted while driving and 9 people die while trying to attempt it or just doing it (Halsey). Now that this century has more technology than ever before, some of these appliances are in our vehicles. People can now get distracted while texting, talking, trying to mess with the radio, trying to make a navigator work,and simply putting a disc in a player . With all of these distractions around us while driving, there is more of a chance to attempt this. Distracted driving is dangerous, so think about how a person can hurt themselves or even get killed by doing this. Every year there are…
It is no secret that people send texts, eat, or fiddle with the radio on their way to work. It is such a common occurrence that nobody sees anything wrong with it, but the truth is quite the opposite. Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of death among young adults. Over 3,000 people died in 2014 due to distracted driving accidents, and more than 430,000 were injured by distracted drivers. Ten percent of drivers aged fifteen to nineteen involved in fatal car crashes were reported as being distracted at the time of the incident. No text message is worth risking the lives of people around them. The message can wait, put the phone and food down.…
Alongside the major cause of distracted driving, there are significant negative effects of this trend. One negative effect is that families now have to take care of family members who didn’t need to be taken care of before. In his documentary, Herzog interviews another family. Debbie Drewniak was the woman who was hit by a car while the driver was tecting and driving, now she has a double vision, her arms doesn’t work very well, her balance is not good, and she have hard time talking and remembering stuff. She is an adult women who before used to work sixty or more hours per week, traveling around the world, but now her sister Elizabeth and her brother Karl have to take care of her. As Elizabeth talks about her sister’s condition, she says,…
The popularization of advanced technologies today leads to the distracted driving directly. As smartphones and other electronic devices are getting more popular nowadays, more and more people use their phones while driving. As Sarah Doody proofs the fact in her article, Incentivize People to Ignore Their Phones while Driving, there is a shocking number of people use their phones while driving, their eyes were off the road because they paid attention to the screens (Doody, 2016). Of course there are many other types of distractions such as eating and drinking, changing clothes or talking to passengers, but the rapid development and popularization of technologies are the biggest threats for drivers. Thus, in order to prevent distracted driving, the related departments of government should reinforce the laws and find programs to educate drivers about the dangers of distracted driving in depth.…
Individuals have been engaging in distracted driving since cars were first introduced. It may be that they are eating while on the go, yelling at children in the backseat, talking on their cell phone or changing the radio station. Anything that takes a driver's attention away from the road is considered a form of distracted driving, as the person isn't fully concentrating on this task. It may also simply be that the driver is thinking of something else.…
I have been noticing each and every day that there are more and more distracted drivers on the road. These drivers may be distracted by their radio, an in depth conversation with a passenger, children laughing or screaming in the backseat or even reading or sending text messages while driving. All of which can be potentially dangerous to the operator, their passengers, an unsuspecting pedestrian or other vehicle operators on the road. As a potential victim to an accident caused by distracted drivers, I am very concerned as we all should be. So the question I ask now is how can an operator safely drive while distracted? Is the convenience and time saved worth the dangers or deaths that can be caused to yourself or others? In order to safely operate a vehicle it requires a great deal of concentration, coordination, and quick reflexes to avoid potential accidents.…
“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.…
Awareness campaigns, education, law enforcement, and harsher penalties are all ways the government has tried to lower distracted driving rates (Robertson, 2015, 8-12). Tips such as allowing plenty of travel time, turning off or ignoring the smart phone, or using alternative devices like voice recognition, auto responder, and text blockers are also all ideas the government has tried to convey to stop distracted driving (Post Media Network, 2016). However, even through all the efforts to reduce the significant issue of distracted driving, people still do not recognize the risk it holds on their lives and still continue to do it (Lagerquist, 2016). Several drivers believe they can multitask while driving, however, it is estimated that only…
Cellular devices have become a natural part of everyday life. People wake up check their texts, emails, Facebook, twitter and even the weather with the touch of a button. New generation smartphones are now constantly glued to every hand or head that passes by. The result of this obsession is the ongoing issue of distracted driving. This issue started when drivers would get constant phone calls while on the road causing them to lose focus on their surroundings. Now texting, emailing, messaging and status updating has added a new concern to the issue. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported in 2008, driver distraction was the cause of 16 percent of all fatal crashes resulting in 5,800 deaths and 21 percent of all crashes resulting in an injury causing 515,000 wounded people. (Brian 2).Distracted driving has become a huge issue not only nationwide but specifically in Knoxville, Tennessee alone. Motor vehicle accidents and deaths have been increasing in the city over the years as cell phones have become more popular. Personally, I believe distracted driving is wrong. Staying focused on the road at all times is a sure way to save thousands of lives now and in the future. There need to be stricter penalties to support the laws that are currently in place.…
Distracted driving is a very big issue with today’s teens. Our generation has a lot more distractions to deal with then previous generations did. Things like cell phones make a conversation more tempting even with text messaging even though it can cause a lot more damage then we realize. Distracted driving causes death and injuries, bad habits, and unnecessary common sense laws.…
No matter the age a person may be, his/her actions affect others; especially when they’re operating a vehicle capable of injuring or taking one’s life. Distracted driving poses great risks to the driver’s life and others on the road as it increases the probability of a tragic accident. Numerous lives are being lost each day due to distracted driving and not abiding by the laws. In today’s society, ignored warnings increase the possibility of death; influenced by both alcohol and drugs in addition to technology.…