Banning of Texting While Driving Nationwide, Research Paper Example

Texting while driving increases the probability of an accident. Majority of the public and police agree that the dangers of texting while driving are a “no-brainer” but the state laws have been slow to catch up. The National Safety Council has recommended the Congress that states ban drivers from using hand-held and hands-free cell phones and businesses prohibit employees from using cell phones while driving on the job. As of April 2009, 11 states which are Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and Washington as well as the District of Columbia had passed laws banning texting while driving. Similarly, another 10 states which are Delaware, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and West Virginia had laws banning teens and new drivers from texting (L., Precious, & Precious, 2009).

An analysis of the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) which records data on all road fatalities on public roads in the U.S. showed that after declining from 1999 to 2005, fatalities from distracted driving increased 28% after 2005, rising from 4572 fatalities to 5870 fatalities in 2008. Crashes increasingly involved male drivers colliding with roadside obstructions in urban areas. The authors of the study estimated that increasing texting volumes resulted in more than 16000 additional road fatalities from 2001 to 2007 (Wilson & Stimpson, 2010).

In 2008 approximately 1 in 6 fatal vehicle collisions resulted from a driver being distracted while driving. Studies using a naturalistic methodology suggested that the drivers who text while driving are 23 times more likely to crash. In 2009, distracted driving led to an estimated 5,500 fatalities and nearly 450,000 injuries. Numerous studies have shown that texting reduces response times and greatly increase the risk of collision. Drivers travelling just 60 MPH cover the length of a football field in less than four seconds which means that while they are texting, they are essentially driving blind for hundreds of yards (Ban texting while driving, 2011).

John Townsend, manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic states, “All it takes to cause an accident is to be distracted for as little as three seconds.” Mr. Townsend further says that driving is a full time job and requires full time attention. Maryland Senator echoed the same sentiment, “People should drive with both hands on the wheel, which is why using cell phone is dangerous, but texting poses the most extreme peril of all. If a person is texting while driving he or she is using both hands on the little electronic device and paying no attention to the road. That’s terrifying.” as she sponsored legislation in 2009 to make it a misdemeanor in the state for anyone to write, send or read a text message while operating a vehicle. Illinois Rep. Tom Holbrook sponsored similar legislation and told the story of a man who died while texting his girlfriend, “People think they can multitask, and they can’t. The results are death and carnage on the road. Texting is the most extreme form of not paying attention while driving.” A study from the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis estimates the annual financial toll of cell phone related crashes at $43 billion (Boyter, 2009).

David Strayer, psychology professor and research team director at the Applied Cognition Lab at the University of Utah says that drivers are eight times more likely to get into an accident while text messaging. Similarly, a 2008 study by the Transport Research Laboratory found that people who texted while driving failed to detect hazards, responded to hazards more slowly, and had dangerously slowed reaction times which could easily make the difference between causing and avoiding an accident or between a fatal and non-fatal collision. In 2000, only 12.2 million SMS messages were sent and the number increased to 7.2 billion 2005. Since then the number of text messages has increased by more than 1,000 percent (Boyter, 2009).

Some companies have taken the steps to ban cell phone use including texting while driving. UPS and Verizon Communications, Inc. already have a zero tolerance policy on using cell phones and other hand held devices while driving. Oprah Winfrey has partnered with the Governors Highway Safety Association in an awareness campaign called “No Phone Zone” which asks drivers to discontinue cell phone use while driving (Casale, 2010). Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood informed the audience at a national Distracted Driving Summit that nearly 1,600 companies and groups with about 10.5 million employees have adopted distracted driving policies and an additional 550 entities with 1.5 million employees have vowed to do so within a year (Kirby, 2010).

President Obama has also taken note of the issue. President Obama signed an executive order in October 2009 that among other things directed federal employees not to engage in text messaging while driving government-owned vehicles (‘No texting while driving,’ Obama tells federal staff, as more states outlaw texting for all drivers, 2009). Similarly, the Transportation Department also banned drivers of interstate trucks and commercial buses or vans with more than eight passengers from texting while driving in 2010 (Aspen Publishers Inc., 2010).

Studies show that texting results in lower attention on the road, reduced response time, and huge losses in terms of lives and economic costs. The national and state public agencies have already started taken steps and most of the states ban texting in one or other form. Thus, a nationwide ban is a desirable policy because of the social and economic costs to the society.

References

Aspen Publishers Inc. (2010). Transportation Department Bans Texting by Truckers, Bus Drivers.

Ban texting while driving. (January 7, 2011). The Herald .

Boyter, J. H. (May 2009). RU DRIVING? State News (Council of State Governments) , pp. 12-15.

Casale, J. (May 3, 2010). Effort to ban texting by drivers gains traction. Business Insurance , pp. 12-13.

Kirby, P. (October 2010). At Summit, LaHood, Others Cite Progress, Challenges In Combating Driver Distractions Such as Texting. Telecommunications Reports , pp. 3-5.

L., J., Precious, H., & Precious, T. (April 25, 2009). Supports grows to ban deadly texting while driving. The Buffalo News .

‘No texting while driving,’ Obama tells federal staff, as more states outlaw texting for all drivers. (November 2009). HR Specialist: Employment Law , p. 5.

Wilson, F. A., & Stimpson, J. P. (November 2010). Trends in Fatalities From Distracted Driving in the United States, 1999 to 2008. American Journal of Public Health , pp. 2213-2219.