There is Nothing Wrong with. Texting and Driving, Right?

Transcription

1 King 1 Andrew King Kelly Turnbeaugh English 2010 Intermediate Writing 18 February 2012 There is Nothing Wrong with Texting and Driving, Right? In our fast paced lives, we feel as though we need to keep up with the Joneses. We feel the need to have information anytime we want. We also feel the need to keep in constant communication with our friends and family. People have the opportunity to stay in contact with everyone through cell phones. These devices are currently the easiest and effective mode for fast communication, however they need to be used responsively. It is sad to report that people feel as though they are good enough drivers to be able to text and drive. Part of the problem is that society doesn t realize how dangerous texting and driving truly is. In the work place, communication is vital, whether it s preparing for a meeting, sending reports and information, asking questions. Having a phone or cell phone helps keep you in the loop. It can easily call or send someone a message and keeps you readily available and helps you get a hold of someone at work. Companies are finding ways to be more effective and save money and cell phones help accomplish this. Part of the way for companies to keep effective is when someone needs information, push a few buttons and they are talking with someone and acquiring the information they need. The sad part is that you could be busy and preoccupied, whether at home or at work or on the way to work. If the boss asks for something you had better

2 King 2 have it and offer it quickly. The tricky part is if you are driving. You need to respond and the message just can t wait. Traffic is going fast and you don t want to pull over or traffic is slow and no one is moving and you can look away because you won t be moving. So you quickly send a text message and look no one hurt, no accident, no harm no foul. This picture is depicting a father driving a semi-truck with his son and Father and Son Outing texting. However, I feel that texting for your work can be helpful, but when you are driving there truly is no reason to do it. My reasoning is that according to a report from the U.S. Government, 3,092 people died in 2011 from distracted driving; which includes texting and driving, (Healey, 2011). When people say they have to send some information to work while they are driving, it s not safe and they will hurt someone and themselves, it s not a question of if but rather when will you get in an accident? In the world of parenting, parents can text their children because it is easier than a phone call when the child is away from home. In a report from Fox News, Sara Bonisteel explains that more and more parents are texting their children, because it is easier to text simple questions, short conversations, and to check up on their children. "The parents, the kind of stuff they're texting, it's generally not this big emotional 'How's your life?' 'Are you depressed?'" Peters said. "They want to know 'Will you be home for dinner?' When they get an answer 'Yes.' 'No.' 'Be home late.' that's all they really want to know." (Bonisteel, 2006) Parents feel that text messaging can help bridge the generational gap and help strengthen the relationship. If a parent wants to have a deep conversation and ask those types of questions of How are you? Are you

3 King 3 depressed? they know to ask it in person. Also it helps relationships with parents and children. A recent survey commissioned by Cingular Wireless found that 63 percent of parents who text their children find that it improves communication, and 64 percent of parents felt texting made their kids easier to reach. (Bonisteel, 2006) From texting parents have already established a line of connection and when the child is home, they are more comfortable in talking to them and asking questions. Which parents need to do. Another side of texting, parent to child, that can sometimes be overlooked, is that it gives the child the opportunity to talk to their parents in a non-hostile or aggressive manner. Obviously a parent can use all caps and exclamation points to show the intensity they want to convey in their words, but the child has the chance to wait a few minutes to respond. With parents and children texting each other and improving the relationships, it can also be dangerous when the teens or parents are texting while behind the wheel. When teens text and drive, they spend about 10 percent out the lane they are trying to stay in. (Snyder, 2011) A young man had been texting his girlfriend when he was behind the wheel and was in an accident. It was really scary, he said. And I knew that it had happened Teens drive 10 percent out of their lane when they text behind the wheel. to me I had crashed while texting while I was driving. Here I was, 20 years old and being told I might not be able to walk again because I was texting to my girlfriend for some nonchalant reason like telling her how cute she is or whatever. (DeDoncker, 2011)

4 King 4 In a study by a Canadian auto insurer released the top ten excuses given by local drivers when they were caught using a cell phone while driving. Although the study was done in Canada the excuses people have are the same as they are in America.(Preferred Insurance, 2011) 1. This is a bogus law. 2. It was my boss on the phone -- I had to answer it. 3. I wasn't using it -- I just like to hold it. 4. Sorry officer, I didn't see you trying to pull me over because I was on my phone. 5. It was an emergency call to my wedding planner. 6. My bluetooth died. 7. Driver: I'm using my speakerphone. Police officer: No, you're holding your phone in one hand and steering with the other. 8. I'm not driving; I was stopped at a red light. 9. I'm not talking, I'm checking my messages. 10. I was just checking the time. In spite of state bans and heavy fines for texting and driving, the number of people texting while behind the wheel is increasing especially among young drivers. More than half of drivers said making a cellphone call made no difference to their driving performance, and a quarter said texting or ing made no difference. But 90 percent said that when they are passengers they feel very unsafe if the driver is texting or ing. (Lowy, 2011) People have the conflicting few that it is other people that LOOK OUT! have a problem when they text while driving. They don t understand that they are part of the problem.

5 King 5 In writing this, I hope people understand just how dangerous texting and driving truly is. No matter how much of an experienced driver you are, when your distracted you are distracted. Your eyes are not on the road, you are not focused, your thought process is somewhere else. A young man in Clearfield learned the hard way. Craig A. Moyes was driving in the dark, two cars had stopped and 20 year old Alex Carr attempted to cross the road in a cross walk. Craig said he had received a text message and was putting down his phone when he hit Alex. The victim was taken to a hospital and died four days later when taken off life support. Now, a year later, Craig pleated to a judge, I didn't even see the victim. If I had, I would have stopped. That fast. It was a total accident. If I could take it back, I would in a heartbeat." With Utah law he could have a large fine and be in prison for life. However, the family of Alex felt that jail time would do more harm than good and there is a punishment that will change what has happened. She doesn't want this case to destroy the defendant's life." From the mother s feelings the judge sentenced Moyes to 24 months probation and ordered him to perform 240 hours of community service by the end of the year. He was very lucky (Falk, 2011). There are some simple things we can do to help us protect ourselves from texting and driving. We could simply keep the phone in our pocket, put it out of reach, turn it off, or pull over to the side of the road and then text or make a phone call. However there are some new high tech things that can save us from our phones, it s the phones themselves. There are programs and apps that will make your phone stop functioning when it can tell you are driving. Cell phone providers are also providing options for parents and those with their own accounts to have text messages and even phone calls temporarily blocked until they have stopped driving. Their smart phone would have an app that would be able to know whether they are moving at a speed of a moving vehicle. T-Mobile has an app that does this; however it does cost about five

6 King 6 dollars a month. If this program saves lives, then the five dollars a month is worth it (Kumparak, 2011). Verizon wireless has been very supportive of many legislation that required people who were talking on the phone to use a hands free device. They have also supported bans on texting and driving. Not very many phone companies have done as much as Verizon with supporting legislation in making our roads safer (Nelson, 2009). People s lives aren t worth a LOL or a OK it is so easy to not text and drive and people are dying needlessly because of it. Together we can make a difference.

7 King 7 Work Cited Bonisteel, Sara. Parents Use Text Messaging to Keep Tabs on Kids FoxNews.com. December 06, < DeDoncker, Mike. Janesville, Wis. man campaigns for safe driving after texting crash HealthyRockford.. April 06, < Wis-man-campaigns-for-save-driving-after-texting-crash> Falk, Aaron. "Man spared jail in fatal texting-while-driving crash." Salt Lake Tribune Jun < Healey, James R. Feds: Phoning, texting killed 3,092 in car crashes last year. December 08, < Lowy, John. "OMG! More drivers texting at wheel, despite state bans." Salt Lake Tribune. Dec 08, < Nelson, Jeffrey. "Verizon Wireless Launches Don t Text And Drive Ad Campaign." Verizon wireless. Oct < 23.html>. Preferred Insurance. Top ten texting-while-driving excuses. October 25, < > Snyder, Edgar. "Cell phone texting while driving statistics." Edgar Snyder and Accociates, <