Mobile Phone and Phoebe Cook Copeland

Phoebe Cook
Copeland
ENC0025
8 April 2013
Causes and Effects of texting while driving It is a beautiful Friday morning, when all of a sudden a huge crash is heard in the distance. At the scene of the accident there is a car crushed up against a telephone pole with a young girl inside all bloodied and cut up. Taking a closer look, the young girl seems like she is simply asleep, but in her hand she holds her phone with half written message on the screen saying, “I’ll be there…” Unfortunately, the young girl never had the chance to finish her text message because she hit a telephone pole. This young girl’s life was tragically taken from her; however, this accident could have been avoided if she would have only waited until she got to either her destination or a red light to answer the text message. Sending text messages while driving distracts a person’s attention from the main task, which is driving the vehicle safely. Text messaging is known to contribute to deadly accidents that have prompted several legal districts to ban the practice in many states. The reason that people text while driving in unknown and difficult to pinpoint a specific reason; unfortunately, the effects are clearly visible on the roads and also in the news. The causes and effects of texting while driving can be avoided if people just decided to put the phone down and wait until they are not driving. Texting while driving is very dangerous, but people of all ages still do it. Studies have stated that half of the percent of people of all ages text while driving, and the other half of the percent talk on the phone when behind the wheel. Even though there is no evidence that a person is openly pressured into texting while driving, there is an expectation in society to have the dire need to respond to a text message. However, it is more likely for a person to be involved in a serious accident when texting rather than talking on the phone while driving. The reason behind this is that, when talking on the phone it only distracts the driver, but when texting the driver has to look down at the phone to answer it. Thus, making it not only a distraction for the driver, but they have to take their eyes off the road in order to reply to the message. The effects of texting while driving left a devastating trail that lead to legal implications. Due to having so many accidents on the road, different states passed a law that banned texting while driving. This ban was placed in hopes to lessen the accidents that are caused by people who text and drive. If states can ban driving under the influence, then they can surely ban the no text law in order to keep the roads safer. However, many people have argued that it is hard to spot a person texting while they are driving because they are holding the phone in their laps, which is below the dashboard. So how can the cops catch people who text and drive? The cops are trained to watch for the driver’s body language. If the driver seems like they are texting while behind the wheel the cop is allowed to pull them over and issue them a fine. The causes of texting while driving resolves in the most dangerous effects that ends up taking someone’s life. However, not everyone who gets into an accident while texting is unfortunate, but the most serious accidents are due to people taking their eyes and concentration off the road to answer their text message. The reason why people do not take texting while driving seriously is because they think that taking their eyes off the road for a few seconds would not do any harm. Unfortunately, they are sorely mistaken because it only takes a split second in order for something to go terribly wrong. Not only is it dangerous for the person who is driving, but also for the other people that are in the car and on the road. If people just took texting while driving seriously and understood that it is just as dangerous as anything else, then we would have less accidents and less of people’s lives being tragically stripped from them. In conclusion, it is not the lack of knowledge that people text while driving, but the lack of responsibility that goes into the act. People of all ages know the consequences of texting while driving lead to fatal accidents, yet they still do it. The temptation is too grandeur, however, the person who sent that text message can wait. Not waiting to answer that message while driving will not be worth it in the long run. The causes and effects of texting while driving can be avoided if we choose to put the phone down and wait to answer the text message until we are not driving because answering a text message is never worth a human life.