Kristin Manion P6/7

October 31, 2016

The Hazards of Distracted Driving

The average time your eyes are off the road while texting and driving is five seconds.

When driving at thirty-five miles per hour, you would have already driven over three-fourths of a

football field. Even though adults and teens know the risks of texting or talking on the phone

while driving, ninety-eight percent still do it. Using a cell phone while driving is an issue today.

Phone usage while driving should be illegal because drivers cannot multitask; distracted driving

leads to car crashes, and teens are likely to text and drive.

Drivers falsely believe they can multitask between driving and using a phone. Drivers

talking or texting on phones may experience inattentional blindness. This means when they are

talking on a phone or texting, the driver may miss up to fifty percent of what is going on around

them. The driver looks but doesnt see. Drivers distracted by cell phones have a slower

reaction time than a driver with a BAC (blood alcohol content) of 0.08, which is considered in all

States to be legally impaired. Drivers talking on their phones are more oblivious to the traffic and

conditions around them. This is because the person who the driver is talking to doesnt know

what is happening on the road to alert the driver. It is impossible for a driver, or any person, to

multitask between two things.

The number one cause of a motor vehicle crash is distracted driving. The top two ways

distracted driving occurs is sending a text or talking on the phone. In 2014 the number of people

killed because of distracted driving was 3,179. The number of people injured because of

distracted driving was 431,000. Ten percent of all drivers from age 15-19 were involved in a

motor vehicle crash due to distracted driving. Driving while texting and talking on the phone is a

very dangerous.
 Teens are more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle crash than adults when it is

related to texting and driving. Ninety-four percent know the risk of texting and driving, but

thirty-five percent text and drive anyway. Twenty-one percent of teens involved in car accidents

were distracted by their cellphone while driving. Eleven teenagers die everyday because of

texting and driving. Many teens are distracted by their phones while driving.

Drivers cant multitask, distracted driving leads to car crashes, and teens are likely to text

is why phone usage while driving should be illegal. Some people say they can drive while using

their phone, but the fact is a person's brain cannot multitask between two things. When drivers

are distracted by their phones they look, but dont see. Teens are more likely to get in a car

accident than an adult when it comes to texting and driving and the number one cause to a car

accident is distracted driving. Remember next time you reach for your phones that when you are

texting and driving you eyes are off the road for five seconds, when traveling at fifty-five miles

per house you have already driven more than the length of a football field.