Distracted Driving

February 12, 2016

By: Angelina Turieo

Texting and driving is really bad. In this picture, the lady is texting and not paying any
attention to the road.

Table of contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Introduction
Why I choose this topic
Facts on the texting while driving
Activist
Laws on texting while driving
Preventing texting while driving
Conclusion

Introduction
Imagine being in the drivers seat of your brand new car, driving
to your friends house. You are thrilled because your parents just
bought it for your sweet sixteenth birthday. All of sudden, diiinnnnngg
goes your phone. You instantly look down at it. You pick it up and
start to text back. It only takes about 5 seconds to type a response,
but when you look up, you see a car coming right toward you. Luckily,
you are able to swerve out of the way, just in time. Hopefully, you will
never do this again as texting while driving is so dangerous. In this
article I will talk a little about preventing texting while driving and
some of the causes, and some of the laws. I will help as much as I can
to prevent distraction in teens while driving.

Why I choose this topic

When I was 9 years old and on my way to cheerleading practice,
we got into a car accident because the driver was being inadvertent.
(
Relating to, or characterized by the lack of attention
). The driver was
distracted by paying her bills and looking at her phone. As a result we
got into a fender bender. We were coming to a red light and the driver
was not paying attention so she hit the car in front of us. I choose this
topic because it was really scary and and I hope it never happens again.
A fender bender
(
a collision between motor vehicles in which there is
only minor damage)
is not that big of a deal but if it was caused by
distracted driving it is, and it could have been much worse.

Facts about texting while driving

People need to pay 100% attention while driving, especially if you

are new to driving. People, music and phones can distract a driver a lot.
According to the 2008 study at the Center of Cognitive Brain Imaging
at Carnegie Mellon University, Brain power used while driving
decreases by 40% when a driver
listens to conversations or music.
Imagine how much more
concentration you would lose when
youre texting and driving. It doesn't
matter if its in your hand, or if its
hands-free. Any distractions will
increase your reaction time. The
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration said 16% of all drivers
younger than 20 involved in fatal
crashes were reported to have been
distracted while driving. According to
a 2010 PEW Research Center report,
a teenage driver is more likely to get
into a crash because of a passenger who is distracting them or if they
themselves are using their phones. Unfortunately being distracted as
the driver can result in a car accident or maybe even fatality.

Activists
Have you ever heard of Laura Saldivar?

Well she is a 22 year old girl from

Algonquin, Illinois. Laura was 10 years old
when she started to get involved with
preventing texting while driving. In fact,
her father was a driver's ed teacher.
Laura felt strongly about this issue
because her cousin got into a really bad
car accident that was caused by texting
while driving. She started a safe drivers
group at her high school called the Jacob
Safety initiative. Laura also hosted a teen
driver's conference with 400 youth
attending as well as state police, U. S. representatives, the Illinois
Secretary of State and victims. Saldivar always drives with her phone
away and out of sight and encourages others to do the same as well.
Laura won't drive with people that will text.

Laws on Texting while Driving

Many states have laws now on texting

while driving but they didn't before. Fourteen
states not including Massachusetts prohibit
all drivers from using handheld devices in
their hand. Thirty-eight states including
Massachusetts prohibit all cell phone use for
new drivers. Forty-six states including
Massachusetts prohibit texting while driving.
Massachusetts also prohibits all bus drivers
from texting while driving. All these laws have been put into place so
many drivers will be less distracted

Preventing Texting while driving

Many people think that just your phone can distract you. Well,
there is a lot more that can distract you than just texting or using
your phone. For example eating or drinking, thinking, putting on makeup
and much more can distract you while driving. Making laws regarding
cell phone use is a good first step. After that, drivers will need to be
educated about the laws and finally the laws will need to be enforced.
People need to get rid of all distractions while driving or otherwise they
might end up in a car crash.

Conclusion
Have you ever thought of texting while driving? If not, that's
great but if you have, then you're making a bad decision. You think its
just for a second and that youre still paying attention to the road. But
youre not and all it takes is one second of distraction and not watching
the road for you to get into a car accident and hurt yourself or others.
From now on, i will tell my friends and family not to text and drive. Ill
offer to text for the driver so that they can pay attention to the road.
You can help stop texting and driving by doing the same thing. Think
about this: Is answering a text worth your life or someone else's or
can it wait?

Work cited
Liza Barth Teen activist works to end distracted driving.
ConsumerReports.org March 4, 2011 January 29, 2015
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2011/03/teenactivistworkstoenddistracted
driving/index.htm
https://teenvoicesmagazine.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/textingwhiledriving/

Hughes Mackenzie, A New Initiative Combats Teens' Deadly

TextingWhileDriving Behavior
Huffingtonpost.com June 19, 2015 January 29,
2015
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mackenziehughes/anewinitiativecombats_
b_7606342.html

Robinson
Elizabeth

, Laws against texting While driving are keeping teens

alive.
http://www.dailydot.com/
July 22, 2014 Febuary 3, 2016

http://www.dailydot.com/news/antitextingdrivinglawsteenagers/

Curbing Distracted driving ,

http://www.ghsa.org/
2010, February 3, 2016
http://www.ghsa.org/html/files/pubs/survey/2010_distraction.pdf

Classroom clipart,
http://classroomclipart.com/clipartview/Clipart/Safety/texting_while_driving_jpg.htm