Banning Texting While Driving Saves Lives, Essay Example

Topic description

• Majority of the drivers habitually use their phones to send and also read text messages despite the safety risks that are associated with that habit.
• Texting and driving at the same time is a potential cause for lethal distraction and no single text message is equitable to the life of a person.
• Many drivers have become more and more addicted phones and they occasionally send and read text messages while driving without realizing how the habit can create safety problems
• Enforcement of regulations that restrict texting while driving is a very significant focus in saving lives that could be lost as a result of road accidents.

Possible research questions

• Majority of the states have enacted legislations that prohibit texting while driving, but, is there any significant difference that is attributed to such laws?
• What are the contributions of distracted drivers who text while driving on fatalities experienced by pedestrians, other drivers as well as bicycle users?
• What achievements have been realized by the laws banning testing while driving in reduction of fatalities and can secondary enforcement help in the reduction of traffic related accidents?

Importance of Banning Texting While Driving to Saves Lives in society

According to available evidence from research, texting while driving has been associated with a significant extent of distraction of the driver’s attention, which is a potential cause of death after a vehicle is involved in a collision. More than 2, 600 deaths were reported to occur in 2002 in the United States as a result of texting while driving (Farmer, Braitman & Lund, 2010). This figure escalated even further 2011 reaching 3, 331 accident cases which translated to 22% (Farmer, Braitman & Lund, 2010). Most of cases that involved distraction texting while driving were associated were linked to more serious consequences as compared to the distraction of the drivers due to drinking and driving

Possible arguments in a research based argumentative essay

The use of mobile phones to text while driving has been a cause of substantial number of collisions when compared to any other task which the driver may undertake while driving such as eating and reaching at an item in the vehicle. Most drivers especially the young ones have developed a habit of texting using their mobile phones more frequently and for extended periods of time, which can easily lead to an exposure to the risks of collision. Texting while driving is therefore highly lethal, more that drunk driving in terms of extent of risk of collision (Andrew, 2014). Amazingly, both drunk driving and texting while driving pose a significant danger to the driver, the passenger and any other road user, but implementation of laws governing texting while driving has not achieved much success.

Initial ideas for research sources

A sensible measure to address road safety would therefore entail implementation of sturdy legislations that prohibit texting while driving (Braitman & McCartt, 2010).  In this regard, most the states have enacted legislations that prohibit texting when driving and also, use of cell phones for other purposes aside from texting. Although great legislative efforts have been made to curb these practices, the greatest impediments appear to lie on implementation strategies.

Keywords for beginning research

Texting and driving, Traffic safety, prohibit texting when driving, Public safety, emotion regulation, attention, text-messaging, driving, use of cell phones.

Possible ethical dilemmas

One ethical dilemma associated with texting while driving entails the damages caused to the driver and other people. A significant degree of impairment is anticipated when a driver texts while driving and possibly the driver could take postpone the practice until he/she reaches the destination or a safe place to stop the car. Why the need of hurry to text while one can wait a little longer which can make a big difference between safety and injury or death. The choice to text while driving entails a choice between what can be lethal and what can be safe. The reaction time of the driver while texting and driving is doubled (Michael, John  & Kristie, 2009).

A case study a driver was involved in a fatal accident when his car collided with a fast oncoming car while texting in Alabama. There were two passangers in the car at the time of that collision who were extensively injured and the car severely damaged. The driver was charged in court for the offense and this prompted the state of Alabama to ban texting while driving.

The accident happened in Alabama, which is the newest addition to States that have since outlawed texting and driving. How an ethical framework would interpret a brief case study

Whereas the cases of drunk driving were reported to decrease as cases of texting and driving increased. Texting while driving has cumulatively led to approximately 1.6 million fatalities every year which translates to about 25 % of the total cases of traffic accidents that have been documented (Braitman & McCartt, 2010).  The elemental danger that is conventionally associated with texting while driving involves distraction of the full attention of the driver off the road.  A series of coordinated activities are needed to complete the entire process of texting ranging from locating the phone, browsing through, writing the message and then sending it, all at the same time while driving. The entire process therefore distracts the attention of the driver from the road to the phone. Texting while driving has therefore been associated with greater degree of distraction more than drunk driving since the attention of the driver is forced to serve two independent purposes at the same time.

Works cited

Andrew, Shain. “Statewide texting ban drives forward in SC.” The State. Feb. 25, 2014.

Braitman, K.A. & McCartt,  A.T. (2010). “National reported patterns of driver cell phone use in the United States”. Traffic Inj Prev. 11(6):543–8.

Farmer, C.M,  Braitman,  K.A. & Lund, A.K. (2010). “Cell phone use while driving and attributable crash risk”. Traffic Inj Prev. 11(5):466–70.

Michael, R., John, L. & Kristie, Y., (2009). Driver Distraction: Theory, Effects and Mitigation. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis Group.