Driving Distractions Research Paper
Every year about 6,000 teenagers, aged sixteen through twenty, die in motor vehicle accidents. According to Allstate Insurance spokeswoman Megan Brunet, of those 6,000 deaths, eighty-seven percent of them are caused by driving distractions. There are many different types of driving distractions and they can all be categorized into three main subgroups; visual, which would be taking your eyes off the road, manual, would be taking your hands off the wheel and cognitive, which is taking your mind off what you are doing. Some examples of distractions that a driver will encounter would be using a cell phone, eating and drinking, talking to passengers, grooming themselves or using a navigation system and music player in the vehicle all while driving.
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According the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 7,460 youths died in auto accidents in 2005. Twenty-eight percent of the drivers in those accidents were at or above the legal limit of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08. That BAC of .08 is the legal limit for persons of age 21 or older. All of these drivers were underage and drunk while driving the vehicle and on most occasions were not the only life taken by their irresponsible actions. For some reason or another drivers who are impaired are less likely to wear a seatbelt. According to the NHTSA statistics for 2005, seventy-five percent of those drivers who lost their life in drunk-driving accidents were not wearing a seatbelt. Drunk drivers for some reason or another get the “need for speed” even more so than people who are not intoxicated. On top of their slowed reaction time and ignorance of traffic laws, on many occasions they don’t wear a seatbelt. It is almost as if they are rolling the dice and they are wagering their life to have some fun. Not only are they putting themselves in a life threatening situation, but there have been many instances where drunk drivers collide into sober drivers and end up killing them as well. In the state of Pennsylvania, if you kill another person while driving and you are intoxicated, you will be charged with vehicular homicide which carries a mandatory minimum five year jail sentence. In the end, if you end up surviving the crash, your life will be in shambles for the next couple years to the point where you might wish you had just died in the accident
According the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 7,460 youths died in auto accidents in 2005. Twenty-eight percent of the drivers in those accidents were at or above the legal limit of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08. That BAC of .08 is the legal limit for persons of age 21 or older. All of these drivers were underage and drunk while driving the vehicle and on most occasions were not the only life taken by their irresponsible actions. For some reason or another drivers who are impaired are less likely to wear a seatbelt. According to the NHTSA statistics for 2005, seventy-five percent of those drivers who lost their life in drunk-driving accidents were not wearing a seatbelt. Drunk drivers for some reason or another get the “need for speed” even more so than people who are not intoxicated. On top of their slowed reaction time and ignorance of traffic laws, on many occasions they don’t wear a seatbelt. It is almost as if they are rolling the dice and they are wagering their life to have some fun. Not only are they putting themselves in a life threatening situation, but there have been many instances where drunk drivers collide into sober drivers and end up killing them as well. In the state of Pennsylvania, if you kill another person while driving and you are intoxicated, you will be charged with vehicular homicide which carries a mandatory minimum five year jail sentence. In the end, if you end up surviving the crash, your life will be in shambles for the next couple years to the point where you might wish you had just died in the accident