Distractions While Driving Essay Example

Distractions While Driving Have you ever gotten distracted while driving in a car? Every day that you watch the news you either hear of someone getting into a car accident, by either talking or texting on a cell phone. It is becoming increasingly common for people to wreck due to distractions while driving. Talking and texting are just a couple ways that people get distracted while driving. According to The U.S. Department of Transportation, in 2008, about twenty percent of all crashes in the year involved some sort of distraction (distraction.gov). There are numerous effects of getting distracted while driving. Although, a large amount of people may not think that they get sidetracked, but they do by texting or talking on the phone, changing the radio, and by drinking or eating food. One major distraction while driving is when people either texting or talking on a cell phone. For instance, People under the age of twenty one years old had the highest proportion of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2008. An estimated twenty one percent of 1,630,000 injury causing crashes were reported to have involved either texting on the phone while driving according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s. The effects of texting and talking on the phone can cause you to get into car accidents. This could cause someone to acquire injuries or possibly death. Using a cell phone or any other handheld device while driving, delays a driver's reaction just as much as having a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent. In addition, not only is texting on a cell phone bad, but changing the radio station may also be just as bad for your reaction time while driving. A second major distraction while driving is changing the radio station. While changing a station you may eventually take your eyes off the radio for just a couple seconds, and that can be very dangerous. As a result, someone could possible rear end the person in front of them because they