Texting While Driving

Monica Armas Armas 1
English 115
5 April 2013
Texting While Driving: Worse Than Drinking and Driving
I was on the freeway on my way to school when all of a sudden out of nowhere a car pulled into my lane without any signal. I slammed on my brakes because the car almost hit me. The driver never turned to look. I honked my horn, but the driver didn’t take into consideration my horn and kept driving. I changed lanes and caught up with the car to see who was driving, and it was a young female texting on her phone. She kept taking her eyes off the road to look down at her phone and text. I looked at her and shook my head but she kept texting while driving. Although many people think it’s okay to text and drive, they should take into consideration the danger they are putting themselves, and others in because texting while driving can often cause accidents leading to death, they tend to drive worse than an intoxicated driver, and they think they can multitask while driving.
Not everyone is in favor of banning texting while driving. Most people will text and drive whether it’s legal or illegal. Those people who oppose texting while driving will argue that a driver who appears to be texting may be looking down which is not illegal, so how will a police officer know which drivers to pull over? Opponents acknowledge that texting while driving is not a smart thing to do but at the same time there are other things that can distract a person. Anything in a car can be a distraction, not just texting. Texting isn’t the only distraction to
Armas 2 drivers. Radios, GPS devices, and other things are more of a distraction. Many people may argue that cell phone use isn’t a distraction, but in reality it’s the main distraction in a vehicle.
However, texting while driving is dangerous because many people think they can multitask while driving. Multitasking while driving is a great risk because it causes you to take your hands off the steering wheel and do multiple things at once. This is not the best thing to do while driving because it can make you lose control of your car. Texting while driving is bad enough because it makes you lose focus of the road, but multitasking is worse because it causes you to do multiple things at once without focusing on your surroundings. Multitasking can cause you to get in a serious car accident because when you take your eyes off the road you lose sight of cars and objects around you. Often time bumper to bumper car accidents are caused by people who are on a cell phone, better yet texting. Texting drivers are oblivious to the risk they are taking.
In addition, texting while driving is often worse than drinking and driving. According to a UK Transport Research Laboratory study commissioned by the Royal Automobile Club Foundation, “Motorists sending text messages while driving are significantly more impaired than the ones who drive drunk.” This is often true because people who text while driving swerve in and out of lanes causing other cars to swerve out of the way so they won’t get hit. Using digital devices gives you a dopamine squirt. That means that it gives you a rush of adrenaline.

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The most significant reason texting while driving is so dangerous is because it’s the leading cause of accidents leading to deaths in the United States. According to research conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, a driver is 23 times more likely to get into a car accident if they text when they are behind the wheel of their vehicle, and are also 6 times more likely to crash while dialing their mobile phones. Any use of mobile phones in cars is hazardous, but texting produces an effect equivalent to high blood-alcohol levels. Many people suggest If you really need to use your phone while driving then you should pull over on the side of the road and do it, or wait until you get home. Most people can’t wait so they take their phones out and it becomes a distraction to them.
Throughout our lives we face many different kinds of dangers such as earthquakes, robberies, and floods. A car accident is something that can be avoided if we stop the use of all cell phone use while driving especially texting. There should be no exceptions to texting while driving. Although some people may need to use their phones at times for emergencies or important issues, cell phone use should be banned because drivers who text cause accidents, they drive worse than a drunk driver and tend to think they can multitask. There is nothing more important than our lives, and that can be taken away at any moment due to a texting driver who isn’t paying attention to the road. Although texting while driving has the same risk as driving under the influence, people don’t take that into consideration and still text. We can’t take back someone’s life, but we can prevent an accident from happening if we just simply put our cell phones away while driving.