Category: Distracted Driving/Texting and Driving

“It doesn’t matter what I do … it doesn’t matter what I accomplish; that will always come second. I will always be Reggie Shaw, the person who took two lives in a car accident” (Macavinta 1). These are the words from a man who was a part of an upcoming epidemic for the world, distracted driving. It was a rainy morning on September 22, 2006, and a young teen Reggie Shaw was on his daily commute from Tremonton to Logan on Valley View Highway. In a single instant, his life was changed forever. Driving his Chevy utility truck Shaw looked down at his phone and sent a text to his girlfriend. This text cost two lives. Shaw crossed the yellow middle lines and hit the back of an oncoming car carrying scientists Keith O’Dell and Jim Furfaro. The scientists had spun out of control and have been T-boned by a car trailing carrying John Kaiser. John had been trailing Shaw for a few minutes and had sensed that something was wrong with Shaw. Time was against the men and john flew into the scientists killing them immediately ( Macavinta 1-5). “I live every single day in regret,” Shaw said in a phone interview last week. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it. It has been 2,919 days. Eight years. It’s still hard; I still struggle; I have to get help. It’s hard but I deserve it” (Macavinta 6). In 2006 there were no laws in the U.S restricting the use of cellphones while driving, this accident had brought attention to many. Later, after the accident neuroscientists, Dr. Adam Gazzaley in San Francisco was intrigued by the new technology that had been taking over society and wanted to study what looking at cellular devices does to your brain when you multitask with it. Dr.Gazzely’s tests had begun to show results. He set up brain imaging devices in his lab: magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography scans, and electroencephalograms. He had students do a driving simulator and sent a text to them in the middle of it to see how the brain reacts. His outtake of the tests was that​ ​“The eyes are open but the brain’s not processing all the information” (Henneberg 4-8). Dr.Gazzaley says this is why Shaw can not remember the accident. The Utah prosecutors set up a case against Shaw, charging him with negligent homicide, a misdemeanor. Once Shaw had looked at his record history of phone calls and texts, he pleaded guilty (Henneberg 5) . He responded by saying “I can’t even put it into words. And to see a law passed that would prevent people from texting while driving would mean a lot to me, to be able to know that nobody else would have to go through what I’ve gone through. That they would be aware of the dangers that this text message is, and what it can do, and the effects it can have” (Henneberg 4). Shaw only served eighteen days in jail and had to do community service. According to The National Safety Council, this was only one of the 1.6 million crashes per year are caused by cellphones. Technology now in this day and age has evolved since the last decade. Now technology is in everyone’s grasp, almost anyone can attain it. The sad thing now is that people decide to use it at the wrong time causing it to be fatal, and the United States has tracked down on this in the past years and tried making laws restricting some forms of distracted driving. Many people believe that the laws that are set now are solid enough to keep distracted driving in check, but they are far from right. Distracted driving is still a serious threat to society and stronger laws and regulations must be set and put in place.

So what is classified as distracted driving and how do people see it? According to dictionary.com distracted driving is defined as the practice of driving a motor vehicle while engaged in another activity, typically one that involves the use of a mobile phone or another electronic device. In other words, distracted driving means anything that causes the driver to not look at the road is specified to distracted driving. ‘Basically, if you’re doing anything other than driving, you’re distracted,’ Stibbe said​.​Some examples of distracted driving are using a cellphone, texting, using any handheld device, using a navigation system, putting on makeup, turning and talking to passengers, taking a selfie, going through pictures, and reading. These examples many would believe to be outrageous and out of pocket but these things do happen in today’s world because of all the new technology and new items to distract people from what is a priority. There are three types of distracted driving. The first is visual. This is where your eyes are off the road, for example, texting and driving. The second being manual. which is where your hands are off the wheel for example typing in a GPS. The third is cognitive. This is where your mind is off the road for example, when you are using a system that is not hand-held like Bluetooth. There are many forms of distracted driving and they are seen all over the world

When people think of distracted driving they all automatically think of texting and driving. For the past decade news, laws, and stories were told and placed to stop this form of texting and driving. Commercials were put on television, and classes were made to prevent young drivers from participating in distracted driving, but these things are not stopping society from doing it. According to the National Occupant Protection Use Survey between the age group of 16-24 years old is where texting while driving is the highest. This is believed to be because this age group is where the boom of technology happened. This age group was born into new game systems, new machines, and new and improved technology. Things have only been increasing more and more since 2000. Texting and driving are so heavily thought with distracted driving because of the awareness around the world, but why is the awareness so high? It is because of all the tragedies, accidents, and fatalities that are linked with it. Each year there are many families that are affected by texting and driving, being a family member that dies or you are a victim of it. In 2010 366 people died due to texting while driving, in 2011 354 people did, in 2012 380 people died, in 2013 411 people died because of it, in 2014 385 people did, in 2015 452 people had died due to texting while driving ( Graph NHTSA ). Over the years we can see an increase in deaths caused by texting and driving. In 2010, 16,000 people were injured due to texting and driving, in 2011 15,000 people were injured, in 2012 21,000 people were injured, in 2013 24,000 people were injured, in 2014 22,000 people were injured, in 2015 27,000 people were injured. Injuries have also increased. Lastly, property damage has also happened because of texting and driving. In 2010 30,000 accidents affecting property , in 2011 35,000 accidents with property , In 2012 39,000 accidents , in 2013 47,000 accidents , and in 2014 49,000 accidents with property (Graph NHTSA). These statistics are only from the United States and are only specifically to texting and driving. Texting and driving is so heavily associated with distracted driving, one for being a form of it, and two it is the highest death and injury reported for a form of distracted driving

The number of Pedestrian deaths in the U.S has reached a new high due to crashes being caused by cell phone use while driving in 2018 ( Calvert 1). An estimated amount of 6,227 people died in foot crashes in the U.S last year, the most since 1990. Pedestrian deaths now are about 16% of the total deaths caused by car accidents. The percent has increased by 5 percent since the last decade ( Calvert 2). The cause of this is the new technology and new items that can distract new and experienced drivers and cause them to be unaware of what’s in their environment for the seconds they look down or away. In 2016 more than 9 percent of the United States, traffic deaths or 3,450 deaths were linked to distracted driving. This number is insanely high and the problem is only getting worse. Surveys were taken by the IIHS RoadSide company and in 2014 they studied and had people admit to distracted driving and since that survey in 2014, they found that new drivers in 2018 are 57% more likely to text and drive ( “Cellphone Interactions By”). ‘It doesn’t seem to be going down,’ said Robyn Robertson, president and CEO of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF). Generally, it’s still about 25 percent of fatals.’ Distracted driving to the Traffic Injury Research Foundation believes a quarter of car accidents are caused by some form of distracted driving (Tchir 4-11). Just like Dr.Gazzley’s experiment showing how people are incapable of doing 2 things at once while driving another Dr. David Strayer ran a series of tests that were similar to his. Dr. David Strayer. He had the head volunteer from the University of Utah put on all different types of equipment which would show the results from the tests. These equipment were an electroencephalograph, electrodes around the eyes, a headband attached with a GoPro camera. In her peripheral vision was a handheld led light. Four LifeCam cameras were placed in the cabin of the car to capture the driver’s facial expressions. Some wires were snaked off the brakes and the steering wheel ( Henneberg 25 ). Non-hand-held devices were created in desperation from stopping distracted driving. With non-hand-held devices such as Bluetooth, Siri, and other systems many believed texting and driving and distracted driving would be put to a stop and decrease. Dr. Strayer’s purpose of his experiment was to show that these non-handheld devices were still a high distraction to drivers ( Henneberg 29 ). He had the driver with the equipment on her do 8 tasks. They were first to drive to get bottom-line data, then drive while listening to the radio, then listen to a book on tape, then talk to a passenger, then talk on a handheld device, talk on handheld free device, use the cars speech device, and completing an automated math problem ( Henneberg 34). In all of the tasks, brain activity has shown to increase and showed that the driver’s attention was 64 % off the road, which is more than half ( Henneberg 42 ). According to Carnegie Mellon psychology professor Marcel Just, “This has direct implications for cell phone use during driving because it answers one of the classic questions about human thinking. We’ve demonstrated that the human brain has a limited ability to perform two cognitive tasks concurrently under demanding circumstances, such as simultaneously conversing and driving ” ( Henneberg 46 ). Doing two things at the same time has been proven to decrease the brain’s activity while driving, making distracted driving very dangerous and a hazard. These tests have proven this but it seems that a lot of drivers do not care about it. In 2009 the AAA foundation ran a survey about if drivers care about texting and driving and the dangers and 91.5 percent of the drivers had said texting and driving was a threat to everyone’s safety. This percent is very high but with all the people that were surveyed, they were also asked to be honest and say if they talk on the phone and text while driving. Two-thirds of the people had said that they talk on the phone while driving and that they text while driving one out of the seven days in a week (Hanes 8). Today’s society is aware of the dangers but it seems many do not care about it until they are affected personally.

Distracted driving has highly affected today’s society and has become such a big threat to all people on the road. Many accidents, deaths, damage to property and many other things have happened to people and their families. When will society finally wake up and put their phones down when doing something. It seems like our phones are glued to our hands and they are our hearts and souls. The laws on distracted driving and texting while driving need to be enforced stronger. There can not be a couple of states that allow both and to not have a consequence on doing it. The roadways are a death trap to those that drive on them in this case. For those who think the laws are fine and doing a good job, they are wrong too many deaths and accidents are happening every day due to distracted driving, and now is the time for everyone to open their eyes and chip in on stopping this epidemic.

When you think of distracted driving, texting, or talking on the phone are likely the first things to come to mind. But, according to the article “Distracted Driving”, author Bruce Law says that some of the less obvious factors may be eating while driving, talking to other people in the car, and even driving while you are tired. Distracted driving can be anything that causes you to focus on something else instead of giving your full attention to the road. So, if you’re checking your GPS route, digging for something out of your purse, or switching to a better radio station, yep…that’s driving distracted. By doing these tasks on the road, you are not only putting yourself in danger, but you are putting others in danger as well.

There are approximately 1.6 million car accidents every year that are due to distracted driving and roughly 330,000 injuries as well (Law). Not to mention the average 9 people that die each day because of it, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. So many people believe that they can effectively multitask, but this is not necessarily true. You might think that you are paying equal attention to each task, but you are not. According to cognitive neuroscientist Earl Miller, “You’re not paying attention to one or two things simultaneously, but switching between them very rapidly,” (Hamilton). So instead of supposedly having divided attention between a few different tasks, you are actually going between each task and giving your attention to each at different times. There are many other instances where people may think that they are multitasking when really, they are just switching between tasks. For instance, if you trying to write a paper and have a conversation with a friend at the same time, you are at one point focusing on writing, and then the next you are focused on the conversation. This pattern continues. The reason that our brain has these switches is that tasks will compete to use the same part of your brain, according to Miller (Hamilton). So, when Amanda Clark got into those accidents, her brain was focusing on her phone at the moment, rather than the road. The two tasks essentially interfere and conflict with one another, restricting the ability to focus on both simultaneously. This same idea pertains to driving while texting, eating, or doing anything else for that matter.

So, what is being done to combat this issue? Well, the majority of U.S. states and territories have implemented laws against texting and driving. Whether or not these laws have actually made a reduction in the amount of texting and driving-related accidents is not evident. It is clear that more needs to be done in order to reduce the amount of distracted driving incidents. There have been steps taken by road companies, though. Many highways and some rural roads across the U.S. have introduced rumble strips. A rumble strip is a section of grooved pavement that when in contact with a vehicle, will cause the car to vibrate and cause your tires to make a weird noise. This all happens if you begin to swerve out of your driving lane, and the rumble strip serves to divert your attention back to the road (Law). Studies and surveys by state transportation departments have shown that currently, rumble strips are the most effective form of crash prevention related to distracted driving. If you have ever driven on a highway and suddenly felt your car start shaking and making a loud noise, you likely hit a rumble strip and chances are, you were drifting into another lane without realizing it. If that ridged piece of pavement happened to not be there, though, you might not have realized that you were swerving quick enough to get back into your own lane. The effectiveness is evident. In fact, a 2019 study by the Federal Highway Administration says, “rumble strips have been shown to reduce crash injury by 38% to 50% on rural two-lane roads and 37% to 90% on urban two-lane roads,” (Law).

While rumble strips have proven to be effective, they could also be causing drivers to rely on them too much. Some people may have the mentality of “I can look at my phone really quick to change the song, and if I happen to start swerving, the rumble strip will warn me about it”. Having thoughts like these will not always work out in your favor. There will not always be rumble strips and there will not always be enough time to get back into your lane. So, you must take into consideration that rumble strips are not always going to save the day. Another infrastructural development is text stops. These are areas where drivers can pull over in order to make a call or check their notifications. Not all states have areas designated for this, though. And many of these text stops are just regular rest stops (Law). Most people are not going to want to add more time to their road trip just so they can pull over and make a call. Instead, many would just take the call while continuing to drive. While this may not be the safer option, it is the easier one. It’s evident that text stops are not the most effective way to stop drivers from using their mobile devices.

One of the most utilized times to stop and check your phone is at stop signs and stoplights. You may think that because you are stopped, that is the perfect opportunity to send that quick text back. But that big red octagon is a sign to stop and wait your turn, not a sign to whip out your phone. Let’s say you are at a four-way stop. At four-way stops, whoever arrives at their stop sign first has the right of way. Then whoever arrived second can go, and so on. If you are approaching a stop sign and decide it is a good time to take out your phone and check your notifications, you might lose track of who is getting to the stop sign and at what time because you are busy looking down at your phone. You look up and think it might finally be your turn to go, but you were wrong, and end up colliding with the truck to your left. Also, if approaching a stoplight or stop sign signals you that it is a great time to reach in your backseat and dig around for your box of tissues, one look back, and the next thing you know you have rear-ending the car in front of you. According to the Allstate blog article “5 Common Causes of Car Accident and How to Avoid Them”, rear-end accidents are the most common type of car accident, accounting for almost 30 percent of crashes. And, unsurprisingly, in 64 percent of those rear-end accidents, the driver was paying attention to something other than the road when the crash occurred (Campanella). Drivers have to make a much better effort to keep their phones away and give their undivided attention to both the road and their surroundings.

In addition to rumble strips, the text stops, and texting and driving bans, there are steps that need to be taken by drivers themselves in order to lessen the chance of a fatal car accident due to being distracted. One thing that drivers can do to help prevent picking up their phones while on the road is by downloading apps that discourage cell phone usage while driving. There are several different cell phone apps that are made to stop you from engagement with your device while traveling. Some may detect when you are driving and automatically block phone usage until you stop. Others may require you to log into the app when you are leaving for your destination. There are even apps that will reward you for safe driving. No matter how it may work, downloading one of these apps is a great first step for those who struggle with the temptation of using their phones while driving.

One of the most popular types of phone apps for this purpose is apps that will pay you to keep your phone down. The OnMyWay app does just that and has seen several downloads as well. The OnMyWay Co-Founder, Chloe Palmer, says, “We have a proprietary technology that recognizes 10-12 mph. And as long as you keep your phone locked, we will pay you for all of those miles,” (Nolte). By making sure to keep your cell phone down and unused for your car ride, you are earning reward points that you can later redeem with … For every safe mile, you earn five cents. If you tell a friend about that app and they follow through with downloading it, you get an extra two dollars. And if that friend you referred the app to is also driving safely, you earn two cents for each of their safe miles as well. The fact that you get paid even more for getting others to download the app shows that OnMyWay is dedicated to getting as many people as they can to use this app and begin safe driving habits.

Car manufacturers themselves are attempting to deter drivers from using their phones while behind the wheel. One way that they do this is by implementing smartphone functions into the cars. Some of these functions may include phone calls, speak-to-text features, and Bluetooth pairing for music. Having these features in your vehicle is becoming more and more popular, as car companies are increasingly incorporating these things into their newer models. While they can make taking a call or changing your playlist easier, smart cars can still be just as dangerous as using your actual cellular device. In the article “Is New Car Technology Leading to More Distracted Driving?”, author Scott Huntington says that although you may not be physically taking your eyes off of the road, interacting with the built-in car features is still very distracting and will slow your reaction times. According to Huntington, this is considered cognitive driver distraction, meaning that even though your hands are on the wheel and you are still looking ahead, your mind is focusing on something other than the road. Many people think that these cars with smart features are a solution to distracted driving because you are not actually moving around or looking at something else. But, a mental distraction, no matter if mixed with physical or visual distractions, is still a threat to your safety.

Technologies in the ways of communications and technology-based have improved greatly over the last decade. Years before technology started to become advanced and simpler, there was the old fashion technology that was in use. This was the landline connection to houses, offices, stores, and phone booths to communicate with friends and family. The mobile device was invented, and around the 1990s was when a good amount of people could afford the phones and services. With this new technology, people could communicate without the use of landlines and carry the phones with them anywhere they went. This meant that they communicate with anyone across the world. As technology improved, the methods of communication changed, there were new inventions that allowed people to communicate without the need to physically talk. Text messaging became a method of communication to send short messages that do not require calling up and talking to a person for a longer period of time. Text messaging improved and advanced over the years as phones became more technological to provide an easier way of sending texts or the phone. This then leads then to advanced phones, like the touchscreen that allowed people to text quickly. However, as texting became more advanced, the threat level of this as well increased. It created a threat to people driving on the roads, regardless of it be the person texting or the other driver safely driving their own vehicle. Texting and driving pose a threat to people’s lives regardless of it being their fault or not. Some people do not realize how dangerous it can be to text while driving.

Technology had improved over the years as more knowledge is being learned every day. The world has become a technological place where the majority of people depend on their smartphone or their car to survive just one day. Text messaged changed how phones were being used and it took it to another level. A text message or SMS is a method of communication that sends texts between cellphones — or from a PC or handheld to a cell phone” (Mashable). The first text message ever sent was by Neil Papworth, a former developer at Sema Group Telecoms in 1992. Nokia was the first-ever handset manufacture that supported user-sending of SMS text messages. Nokia was one of the most popular phone brands that most people afforded and used. In 1997, it became the first manufacture to produce a mobile phone with a full keyboard, the Nokia 9000i Communicator. Once this brand was able to take the step forward with the text messages, other phone companies started following in their footsteps as well. In the beginning, the use of SMS was very uncommon, it was still easier to communicate with someone using the phone. This was because the phones had three letters per button which made it harder to do that. However, gradually phones and networks started to adapt to the use of text messages. This then increased the use of text messages and it came more common to find between people. By 2000, the average number of text messages sent in the U.S. increased to 35 a month per person” (Mashable).

One of the most recent technological advances that have been happening is connecting one’s phone through Bluetooth in the car. This advancement has been around for at least 10 years. It has become much more common with the newer cars that also provide a screen that acts like an iPad in the car. This then creates hands-free devices that enable people to text without having the need to pick up their phones physically. However, this can be more dangerous than regular texting. “According to the National Safety Council. Approximately 26 percent of all car crashes involve a driver who was talking on the phone and some of those drivers were using a hands-free device” (Lundy Law). This shows that drivers are still distracted whether it be using the physical phone or hands-free. One of the reasons to what hands-free devices are not safe while driving is because the brain doing too much between tasks but isn’t able to do two things at once. The area of the brain that processes any moving images on the road decreases to at least one-third when the driver is on the phone. “Recent studies have found that drivers who were talking on any type of phone missed seeing 50 percent of the things around them. Consider how difficult it is to read a book or watch a television show while talking on the phone” (Lundy Law). This shows that no matter how technology grows, and it still does not increase their level of focus and concentration on the roads. Many people use the voice-over option to reply to a text rather than picking up the phone and texting while driving. Though it is believed to be a safer option, there are many studies that prove it can be more dangerous than typing texts by hand. There are many dangers that are still found consistent regardless of the Hands-free form of texting. Car crashes are the number one cause of accidental deaths in the United States and about 127 people, both children and adults die in these crashes.

The government as well as noticed that texting and driving have become a big issue. Distraction was a factor in at least 3,157 fatal crashes on American roadways in 2016, which comprised 9 percent of all fatal crashes that year, according to the National Highway Safety Administration” (NHTSA). States are using the data that they have now collected to develop and enforce legislation to reduce distracting driving. Common laws that are involved with this are to ban texting and hand-held phone use and prohibit any and all cell phone use. “Currently, 16 states prohibit drivers of all ages from using hand-held cell phones while driving. Forty-seven states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging by all drivers. Texas’ 2017 legislation created a statewide ban on texting while driving for all drivers, making it the 47th state with such a ban” (NCSL). The states that don’t have these exact laws still have other ways to decrease the use of cell phones. They use fines instead, however, these bans aren’t the typical parking ticket prices. These fines can range from $50 to $500. Some states have increased it significantly to make sure drivers don’t do this. For example, Colorado increased their penalty for texting from $50 to $300 in 2017. This was because of the increase in accidents that were relating to texting. In addition, Arkansas refined its texting ban to including wireless interactive communication like social media. This penalty was then increased dramatically. For the first violation, it was $250 and then up to $500 for subsequent violations.

These bans can do good for these states, however, there are still citizens who won’t change their habits regardless of the laws. “In contrast, Zendrive’s distracted driving report finds that in 2018, distracted driving increased in every state except Vermont” (NCSL). This shows that regardless of these bans being enforced, drivers still do what they want and don’t think twice about their own or others’ safety. These types of behaviors can cause challenges when it comes to enforcing cell phones and the texting ban.

There is also federal action that takes place as well, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), the five-year, $305 billion federal surface transportation bill. With this, they have made many modifications related to texting and driving. One of the newest modifications is the special Distracted Driving. For states to qualify for this, they must enforce the ban on texting and any use of electronic devices for all drivers 18 and younger. The younger generation is known to be on their phones more compared to adults. In addition. The NHSTA created a new guideline in 2016 for portable device manufacturers to address the texting and driving situation. “The guidelines encourage companies to implement technologies that will reduce the potential for driver distraction, such as pairing devices to a car’s infotainment system and implementing “driver mode,” which would limit the number of applications available to the user while driving” (NCSL). This explains the main area of the guidelines the NHSTA is trying to enforce and make people more aware of the consequences of texting and driving.

New York State itself is creating awareness from adults to students who are going to start driving. They have created many events and laws for people to understand the safety issue of texting and driving is. There is a National Distracted Driving Awareness Month which takes place in April. “During the month of April, the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee (GTSC) highlights important safety messages via press events, public service announcements (PSAs), and social media posts” (safety). In addition, in New York, in 2001, because the first state in the country to ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. After recognizing that there is still more danger on the road and the increase in cell phone use, further legislation was put into law in 2009. “This section of the NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law also broadly bans uses of portable electronic devices while driving, such as taking photos, accessing the internet, and playing games”). However, that wasn’t the ending point of these laws. In 2011. Governor Cuomo signed a law that made texting while driving a primary offense and increased the number of license points from 2 to 3. Then in 2013, it was then increased from 3 to 5. This shows that texting while driving is taken very heavily because of the dangers it causes on the roads. Laws aren’t the only type of enforcement that can be found, there are many other different forms of awareness for texting while driving. “GTSC promotes distracted driving awareness via the development of PSAs, billboards, social media posts and variable message signs (VMS)” (SafeNY). This shows that it is a heavily thought of the issue that should be taken seriously.

Cell phone distraction accident rates are alarmingly high. Though smartphones have made it easier for people to stay connected with many people, being on the phone while driving can cause serious damage to the people on the road and cause a safety hazard. In fact, there are approximately 660,000 drivers that attempt to use their phone while driving their car. There have many different types of research that have shown texting driving has created many accidents and deaths. To support this, the Edgar Snyder website states, “The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. Nearly 390,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving” (EdgarSnyder). Statistics show how often car accidents occur related to texting and driving. Research shows that answering a text takes away approximately 5 seconds of attention from the road. With that, traveling at the speed of 55 mph is enough time to travel the full distance of a football field. This gives a visual example of the distance that can be gone without looking at the road.

Teens are also vulnerable when it comes to texting and driving. In a study conducted, 94% of teen drivers are aware of the dangers of texting and driving, however, 35% of these teen drivers admit to still using their phone on the road. In an article, “21 percent of teen drivers involved in fatal accidents were distracted by their cell phones.

Teen drivers are 4x more likely than adults to get into car crashes or near-crashes when talking or texting on a cell phone” (EdgarSnyder). This shows the rate that teen drivers are involved. Teens, as said before, are more vulnerable to these types of accidents because of their reliance and addiction to cell phones.

There are many outbreaking numbers that show how easy it is to pick up the phone and then fall into an accident. “An estimated 33,000 people were injured in 2014 in crashes involving cell phone use or other cell phone-related activities, 8 percent of all people injured in distraction-affected crashes” (TextNinja). This shows that many drivers fall into the dangers of losing their focus just to look at a simple text that is irrelevant.

Texting while driving is a danger to anyone, whether it be the driver itself, or anyone in the area. Talking or texting while can be a hazard because it takes the attention away from the road. As the use of cell phones grows, the increase in car accidents relating to distracted driving increases as well. Even though many drivers from teens to adults are aware of these bad habits, they still do it. As the level of technological advances, the number of accidents relating to this will increase too.

We all know that cellphones have been part of our lives. We are always with cellphones. We are with them when we exercise, eat, or even sleep. We, as a passenger walking down the street, are with mobile phones. A lot of people might have the experience of not noticing the change of the traffic light so they were in a hurry. We, sometimes, as a driver are with mobile phones. Those are the situations in which a big problem is caused. There have been various studies dealing with the relationship between everyday life and cellphones. In this paper, I would focus on the exact situation when drivers are with mobile phones. Not only on the danger it causes because we all know that it is hazardous, but also on the negative outcomes in terms of the economy.

As mentioned above, we all know that the use of cellphones by drivers causes huge problems, especially in safety. Nevertheless, a consistent number of car accidents are caused due to mobile phones. According to a study done by the American insurance company State Farm Insurance, it was found that 19% of the drivers studied used Internet services during the trip. Besides this study, there have been a lot of other studies of drivers dealing with mobile phones. The fact that there is a continuing number of studies also implies that the danger caused by mobile phones is not temporary, it is continuous. So, isn’t there any other alternative to mobile phones in a car? Then, there comes the idea of hands-free devices. Hands-free devices are made for drivers to enjoy the same services as their mobile phones. What’s more, they are not considered to be illegal. Therefore, we can see actors making their calls using hands-free devices in the scene of TV shows or movies. However, the use of hands-free devices does not necessarily mean that it reduces the probability of car accidents. According to a study done by Carnegie Mellon University, a driver’s attention is reduced by about 37% by just listening to someone talking on a phone. That means that hands-free devices also distract drivers, which gives an ironic view to the fact that there are not sufficient laws that regulate drivers with hands-free devices or firms that produce cars that provide hand-free services. What drivers do with their phones might be various, but we can sort them into calls, texting, Internet surfing, and so on. Whatever the criteria might be, the idea that all cause a negative impact is the same.

Instead of only pointing out the danger of mobile phones, we have to focus on the actual losses of the problem. From a public economic point of view, the use of cellphones in driving causes social costs. It is well known that mobile phones cause costs to drivers. Accidents caused by distractions due to smartphones cause costs for drivers or their insurance fees can be increased. Moreover, it can be also shown as negative externalities, which means market failure. According to a study done by NHTSA (National Authority Traffic Safety Administration), using phones while driving can reduce drivers’ well-being. This institution says that cellphones reduce efficiency. Mobile phones make government engage in the situation. For example, they have to affairs associated with those accidents, giving drivers tickets and other things, and that all cause costs to the government. This shows that driving with a cellphone is wasting because of the negative externalities caused by distraction.

Therefore, when the states make a law that prohibits the use of cellphones while driving, the negative externalities can be reduced thanks to those laws. If a driver got a ticket for using a cellphone, that ticket revenue can be used for local or state needs, which increases the overall welfare of the city, like the concept of the Pigouvian tax. For example, if there are drivers who got tickets for their use of mobile phones while driving, they have to pay the fee. That paid fee goes to government budgets and can be used to make new roads or other things that increase the utility of citizens. However, if there was no law against using phones while driving, the government should other areas to get that amount of budget or the overall utility might be decreased. Therefore, banning using mobile phones is necessary because needless to say they are safe and economically efficient.

To sum up, we all know that using mobile phones while driving is harmful. However, drivers keep using their phones, which causes a continuous number of car accidents. It is not useful to use cellphones in terms of economics because that causes negative externalities, which is market failure. If there are enough laws that ban the use of mobile phones, then the overall utility would rise. Nevertheless, there are not enough regulations to precisely ban the use. Even hands-free devices, which are known to cause distractions to drivers, are allowed to be used. Doing campaigns to encourage drivers not to use their phones is also great. However, more precise and practical regulations should be made to make social costs minimized. ‘Precise’ in this context means that we have to regulate those that are not considered to be illegal, like hands-free devices. ‘Practical’ in this context means, as firms are producing cars that provide Bluetooth or hands-free services, drivers can use it. However, if there is a law that regulates the car with such services come out, the percentage of drivers using hands-free devices would decrease. Therefore, more studies should be focused on the type of cellphones (whether they are actual phones or hands-free). Also, the ban needs to be stricter than now so that overall well-being could be maximized. The stricter it would be, the more budget we could get from those drivers, and our overall increase would increase, though the best solution is for there to be no one using their phones and for accidents related to phones to decrease in terms of numbers.

It took a tie-breaking vote by Mayor Tammy De Weerd to pass the hands-free ordinance through a divided Meridian city council. If you are pulled over for using a handheld device while driving in Meridian, expect to pay a total of $155 in penalty and court costs according to Meridian Police Chief Jeff Lavey. Meridian is the first city in the Treasure Valley to enact a ban against using cell phones and handheld navigation devices while behind the wheel.

The new ban also forbids the use of a handheld device at a red light or stop sign. Handheld bans are also enforced in Pocatello, Idaho Falls, Hailey and Ketchum. Idahoans support restricting phone use. According to polls, most Idaho drivers support a ban on handheld cell phone use. I agree with them. Using a phone while driving contributes to 1.6 million crashes each year according to the National Safety Council.

In Idaho, 9% of all fatal crashes and 20% of injury crashes are due to inattentive/distracted driving (Idaho Transportation Department Crash Report). Our law office has helped many crash victims who were hurt by a driver who was attending to their phone instead of the road. Some of our clients were seriously injured requiring multiple operations, time away from work and a painful recovery.

Is checking your phone worth the trauma you may cause?

Is it worth someone’s life?

Texting most risky. Of all the things you can do on a cell phone while driving, texting by hand is by far the most dangerous. A text can take your eyes off the road for a brief five seconds. But at 55 mph, you would have traveled the length of a football field. (Right) Texting while driving is 6X more likely to cause an accident than driving drunk, according to one study. Idaho has already banned texting and driving as have 47 other states. Missouri prohibits text messaging only for novice or teen drivers. Montana has no restrictions on phone use. Texting is just one dangerous activity that falls under the category of distracted driving.

Other hazardous driving distractions include—

• eating and drinking.
• adjusting the entertainment system.
• operating your navigation system.
• reaching to pick up something you dropped on the floor.
• disciplining children.
• anything taking your attention away from what is happening on the road around you.

For a deeper look into distracted driving, the National Safety Council (NSC) offers a free white paper download, Understanding the Distracted Brain. According to the NSC white paper is it is not enough to be just hands-free. Any attempt to multitask diverts a person’s attention from driving and can cause “inattention blindness.”

Where do other Treasure Valley cities stand?

According to a Boise city spokesman, a handheld device ban is not being considered at this time. Debbie Kling, the mayor of Nampa, has invited residents to give their input on a ban. The city of Caldwell has discussed a ban. A spokesman for the mayor said they will be considering it in the future.

What you can do to help. If you want to reduce your risk, you can make a decision to not handle your phone or other devices while you are driving. When you need to take or make a call, pull off the road and stop. You can let frequent callers know if you don’t answer, you may be driving and you will not use the phone while driving. By deciding to reduce your driving distractions, you can be an example for your children and others. Set rules for your family about using their cell phone when driving.