Effects of Texting on Driving

Running head: EFFECTS OF TEXTING ON DRIVING
EFFECTS OF TEXTING ON DRIVING
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1EFFECTS OF TEXTING ON DRIVING
With the drastic advancement of science and technology in today’s date, people seem
to depend on their respective devices more than anything else. Near about every time and
every places, people seem to be engaged in some or the other form of technology, particularly
cell phones. Even while driving, there are individuals who cannot ignore and avoid getting
engaged with their cell phones. It is to note that texting while driving is considered to be one
of the most dangerous things that people do while being on the road. It is not only dangerous
and risky for the person who is doing so but is also dangerous for the ones and cars who are
surrounding them. It is also to mention that every day in the United States, about one out of
ten people are killed just because of distracted driving and also, at the same time, about 1500
individuals are injured in some or the other ways in crashed by such distracted and
irresponsible drivers (Sonnleitner et al., 2014) This paper is going to elaborate on the effects
of texting on driving, why it is considered to be dangerous and disadvantageous and why
people need to avoid doing so.
Texting while driving is dangerous due to the fact that the individuals who do this put
attention on handling their cell phones and on the messages that they are receiving and
sending and while doing this, they completely take off their eyes from the road. This
increases the chance of losing control of the vehicle and hence, results in crashes, killing
themselves and other innocent people. When an individual texts, he or she puts the complete
focus on the text itself. They do not concentrate on the other activities that they were doing. It
is also to note that texting during driving any vehicle is dangerous because it makes the driver
lose the control over his car or bike and also slow down his or hers’ brain reaction time in the
cases of potential accidents. As per the statistics of CDC (the Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention) of United States, in the year 2011, near about 3500 people were killed in the
crashes that involved distracted drivers and about 3,88,000 individuals were badly injured in
the motor vehicle crashes and that again involved distracted drivers only. With the same, it is

2EFFECTS OF TEXTING ON DRIVING
also to mention that according to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, the drivers who
texts during driving are twice as likely to get crashed as those who are focused on the road
while driving. These statistics are really very sad and are continuously reaching higher
numbers as in present days, people are using cell phones more often than ever before,
particularly the adolescents.
Incidents of fatal accidents of millions of individuals due to diverted driving has
increased the importance of finding out solutions to break off such habit. Just because
someone feels like responding to the text immediately is more important than any other thing
is why most of the accidents and crashes are taking place. This is taking the life of thousands
of people all around the globe every year and the biggest group that is influenced by this is
the teens between the age range 16 to 20 and the adults up to 30. Texting during driving
effects the eye movements, lane positioning, reaction time, headway, stimulus detection and
speed. It also has the ability to affect the potential of the drivers to properly direct the
attention to the roadways, responding to the vital traffic events and maintain their speed.
Hence, in the end, it only benefits to the law enforcement teams who work hard to stress the
vitality of not texting during driving as well as the funeral homes which are being paid for the
expenses of burial. This is because these law enforcement teams try to give exactly the same
examples to the public to avoid and the funeral homes are benefitted because the most of such
cases end up in dangerous and severe accidents which allow the funeral homes to start the
preparation of home going ceremony. Hence, it is very important for the common people to
understand that how easily this habit of theirs could take the life of themselves and even that
of the innocents who get engaged in the crashes created by the negligence and irresponsible
action of texting during driving of theirs. As per many of the scholars like Drews et al.
(2017), “texting while driving is more or less similar if not identical to that of drunk driving”.
For instance, texting or calling during driving any vehicle mentally and physically impairs the