We can see that, in the contemporary world, there are more and more instances of car accidents that lead to the injuries of a large number of people and even their deaths. However, the question is: why is it so? In order to solve this problem or at least have a beneficial influence on it, professionals have to understand the main causes of the issue and put considerable effort into preventing them. It is believed that the main reasons for the growing number of car accidents and deaths on the roads is the development of new technologies and, as a result, the irresponsible driving of individuals who are largely addicted to them. Therefore, by providing a few essential arguments and taking of the most popular practices as an example, the following speech will prove that individuals should not text while driving.
As it is already mentioned, the most significant reason of why people should stop texting or using their phones overall while driving is because it can lead to serious negative consequences, such as car crashes, injuries, and deaths of a large number of people. According to statistics, “in the United States, one-third of drivers text while they are behind the wheel and distraction is the cause of 25% of all car crashes that involve injuries” (“2019 United States car accidents statistics,” 2020). This is because when you are driving and, at the same time, use phone phone at any capacity, it is impossible to keep all the needed attention on the road. This number is continually rising; therefore, something should be definitely done to stop this growth, and one of the best solutions is to educate individuals about the negative impact of cell phone usage on the road.
In addition, in case you are using your phone for nay purposes while driving, you are not only putting your life at a considerable risk but also endanger you passengers. Transporting other people in a vehicle is a huge responsibility because any mistake can lead to serious consequences for their health and life. Zakhareuski (2020) also puts a specific emphasis on this point while talking about the possible influences of distracted driving. He asks his readers a question of whether they could live with the understanding that their selfish decision to check their messages or turn on a different song caused someone to die or suffer from severe health complications (Zakhareuski, 2020). Thus, for the purpose of ensuring the safety and physical well-being of yourself and all the passengers in the car it is critical to prevent yourself from texting while driving.
Another consequence of using your phone while driving is a considerable increase in the likelihood of receiving a huge monetary fine or a punishment. Even though this issue is not connected to the life of people, it can bring serious damage to your pocket and to the possibility of driving a car for a specific period of time. For example, a speeding ticket can cost you up to 500 dollars; however, in certain situations the fine can be much bigger and lead to the loss of a driving license for a year (“What are the consequences,” n.d.). In general, this problem is all about the responsibility and taking accountability for your actions which is necessary. Nevertheless, such consequences can bring a significant inconvenience to your life which means that it is much better to prevent their appearance.
I mentioned drivers themselves and passengers as people who can suffer from a serious mistake of texting while being behind the wheel. However, there is also one very important group individuals who can be injured and die because of someone’s, from the first sight, very minor mistake – pedestrians. Humans are definitely smaller and less noticeable that vehicles; therefore, it is possible to end up in an accident with them even when paying full attention. Since texting while driving completely switches one’s attention from the road, drivers can decrease the likelihood of seeing a person crossing the road and cause a crash which may result in terrible health consequences for the pedestrian. Therefore, it can be stated that driving is a huge responsibility and there is no place for even a second on the phone.
Overall, texting while driving is a serious issue that becomes more and more relevant in the contemporary world. Many people do not realize to what consequences it may bring and think that it will not harm their performance in the road. However, the reality proves that it is one of the most serious problems that has to be dealt with as soon as possible. There is a number of negative consequences caused by distracted driving and phone usage that range from receiving a speeding ticket to causing the death of another individual. Thus, this speech proved that it is essential to prevent oneself from using a phone while driving no matter what the purpose of that is. In this case you can ensure that your life and the life of other human beings will not be put at risk.
Effective driving is a task that requires a number of intelligences. The driver should posses kinesthetic intelligence that allows him to skilfully manoeuvre the vehicle, and logical intelligence that enables him to make calculated decisions when facing other drivers (Gardner, 2006). However, many people multi-task while driving as they consider it a “brainless task” that is done habitually, therefore, does not require much effort. Multi-tasking activities such as talking on the mobile phone while driving, applying make-up, or talking to a passenger, ends up being a pitfall for many drivers resulting in road carnage due to careless driving. Consequently, safe and effective driving is a task that demands concentration by the driver, and multi-tasking while driving should be discouraged and avoided for safety.
Experiences and Comfort Levels as a Multi-tasking Driver
Multi-tasking when driving makes a driver very uncomfortable because the driver tries to divide his attention and concentration equally on two or more different things. Hence, the divided attention leads to a driver considering signs on the road and traffic as a bother because he cannot focus enough to follow the traffic rules.
Effect of Divided Attention while Driving
Inability to look at and process what the road signs are stating or to predict the moves of the other drivers makes a driver commit several driving errors, thus impeding his driving. For example, a driver who is talking with a mobile phone cannot see small distractions and can swerve and crash by reflex reaction.
Sensory Perception Issues
The ability to see, internalize and respond to stimuli is sensory and perception. When a driver is multi-tasking, their sensory perception capabilities are so low that they miss obvious distractions and make hasty decisions on the road. For example, swerving is a hasty decision whose aim is to avoid danger, and is a flight response in a high adrenalin situation (Chaudhuri, 2011). This occurs when the driver notes danger and acts on reflex because divided attention does not allow him to see and react with logic. However, a driver concentrating on driving will note a distraction and make a timely decision on how to avert the danger and respond to the stimuli. This can be referred to as high sensory and perception when driving because of the driver’s optimal awareness and response. Therefore, multi-tasking when driving lowers one’s sensory awareness and consequently, their perception of danger on the road, which in turn affects their response while driving.
Recommendations to Lawmakers
There should be strict rules and regulations against any form of distractions when driving, and these rules should be implemented without leniency to encourage safe driving. The penalty for multi-tasking when driving should be so hefty that drivers will endeavour to adhere to the rules and avoid any violation. This will ensure safer roads.
Conclusion
Multi-tasking while driving is common among habitual drivers because routine driving makes them consider their driving skills irreproachable. This leads to many errors in judgement on the road making them poor drivers, unlike the new driver who will be paying attention while driving because of uncertainty of their skills. Therefore, drivers who are often on the road should make an effort to recognise that driving is a task that requires concentration and distractions while driving are harmful to other road users as well. Hence, to be a good driver, one should employ all their senses to the task and pay attention to driving. This will help a person to have better perception of potential dangers and allow time for a logical response in any situation.
References
Chaudhuri, A. (2011). Fundamentals of Sensory Perception. UK: Oxford University Press.
Gardner, E.H. (2006). Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons in Theory and Practice. USA: Basic Books.
Distracted driving is dangerous and can have detrimental consequences, including death. Hayashi et al. state that distracted driving is described as driving when one’s attention is diverted from the driving process to concentrate on another task. Distractions can be visual, such as gazing away from the road, manual, for instance, using a phone, or cognitive, such as thinking about anything other than driving (Hayashi et al.). These three factors raise the likelihood of a motor vehicle accident. Texting while driving, a typical kind of distracted driving, is especially hazardous since it combines all three types of distraction (Hayashi et al.). A Public Service Announcement (PSA) is often useless because physical mortality messages may elicit protective intents to alter dangerous conduct (Martin and Kamins 214). Nonetheless, social loss messages cause individuals to step outside themselves and consider the viewpoint of loved ones left behind (Martin and Kamins 214). The paper emphasizes that PSAs help to reduce the incidence of distracted driving incidents by instilling anticipated regret.
Public health advocates strive to create beneficial social outcomes connected to health. Nonetheless, people continue to engage in harmful health behaviors (Martin and Kamins 205). The boomerang effect occurs when message recipients respond negatively to the PSA (Hayashi et al.). Threat appeals may not always evoke high degrees of the threat of texting while driving, resulting in greater intentions to text and drive (Hayashi et al.). For instance, the boomerang effect occurs when communication recipients respond negatively to the message. Threat appeals may not always evoke high degrees of the threat of texting while driving, resulting in greater intentions to text and drive (Bartal). Hence, to be effective, a threat appeal must appeal to emotions and get people thinking about distracted driving and its implications.
Often while driving, people do not care about their death or injury. Rather than concentrating on the individual’s physical death, Martin and Kamins focus on the effects that “one’s death has on loved ones left behind”—the tight interpersonal connection (205). The findings indicate that the social loss method is a more successful tactic than the physical mortality message framing (Martin and Kamins 214). Participants demonstrate a heightened awareness of the pain of loved ones left behind when a person dies due to the hazardous activity (Martin and Kamins 214). Therefore, reducing the accessibility of a possible cause of dread, such as one’s mortality, may aid in developing more health-responsive conduct.
The PSA that invokes regret of killing or hurting someone else while driving rather than fear of harming oneself is equally effective. While many current and previous anti-texting PSAs focus on drivers’ worry about their potential mortality, threat appeals that generate a sense of impending guilt serve to minimize distracted driving (Bartal). Regret is an aversive cognitive feeling that people experience when they recognize or assume that their current situation might be better if they had done differently (Bartal). Previous studies demonstrated that making people aware of their potential future regret, such as an anticipated regret, diminishes undesired actions like unsafe driving (Hayashi et al.). Hence, threat appeals impact impulsive decision-making through this emotion.
Thus, PSAs based on evoking regret rather than fear reduce the number of distracted driving incidents. A great example of an effective PSA is the “Faces of Distracted Driving” series from the United States Department of Transportation (“U.S. Department of Transportation” 1). It focuses on the deadly effects of texting and mobile phone use during driving. “Get the Message,” a 30-second public service announcement, contains recordings from people throughout the country who have lost family members in distracted driving accidents (“U.S. Department of Transportation” 2). Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation of the United States, praised the families of distracted driving fatalities who boldly decided to share their stories of loss with the globe (“U.S. Department of Transportation” 3). The overflow of compassion in reaction to their tragic stories has been astounding, and their efforts to raise public awareness are saving lives.
To conclude, PSAs help to reduce the amount of distracted driving occurrences. PSAs should elicit anticipatory remorse and focus on the repercussions of one’s death on loved ones left behind to have an impact rather than one’s harm to themselves. People frequently disregard their mortality or harm while driving. The PSA that induces sorrow for killing or injuring someone else while driving is more effective than the fear of injuring oneself. A unique viewpoint is generally beneficial since it gets people thinking and encourages them to reconsider their choices. A successful PSA may assist the public in seeing that by changing their habits, they can enhance the lives of others around them. As a result, public service announcements should be utilized to raise public awareness of the hazards of distracted driving and assist save lives. For instance, after viewing a video on real-life experiences of people who lost someone due to distracted driving, anticipated regret influences people to avoid inappropriate behavior.
Hayashi, Yusuke, et al. “Threat Appeals Reduce Impulsive Decision Making Associated with Texting While Driving: A behavioral Economic Approach.” PloS One, vol. 14, no. 3, 2019. Web.
Martin, Ingrid M., and Michael A. Kamins. “Effectively Using Death in Health Messages: Social Loss Versus Physical Mortality Salience.” Journal of Consumer Behaviour, vol. 18, no. 3, 2019, pp. 205-218. Web.
Despite multiple attempts to create safe environments on roads, the problem of drunk driving challenges many people across the globe. Many individuals are aware of the threats of driving under the influence of alcohol, but some continue making wrong choices that provoke unpleasant outcomes. The combination of drinking and driving is dangerous and characterized by such effects as physiological changes, problems with the law, and innocent victims.
One of the main effects of drinking and driving is the increase in physiological changes in the human body. When a person uses alcohol, the communication between the brain and the eyes slows down, provoking double vision. The examples include the inability to identify a real object, make the required stop, and determine an actual threat on the road. Alcohol-related blackouts are also possible in people, affecting the quality of driving. The results vary, including the challenge of controlling a vehicle, a poor examination of the overall situation, and a sluggish reaction to avoid accidents. Finally, poor coordination due to drinking may lead to negative outcomes while driving. Drivers experience helplessness in making rational decisions in a short period, do not understand what happens around them, and cannot predict the development of events. It is a responsibility of an individual to identify physiological changes before sitting in the driver’s seat.
Another serious aspect of drinking and driving is unavoidable problems with the law. The most common outcome is that drunk drivers can lose their licenses. A police officer might notice insecure driving and checks the person’s condition. There is a possibility that a drunk driver neglects traffic rules. Besides, a temporary loss of the license means additional tests and training courses to return it with time. Drunk driving is also associated with the necessity to pay fines. This requirement means that people should reconsider their budget, deal with unplanned expenses, and have a negative financial history. Sometimes, alcohol while driving leads to severe court decisions and going to jail. Damaged reputation, no family and friends, and no driving are examples of how one legal problem affects the whole life. Thus, it is necessary to think about all pros and cons of driving under alcohol, including legal problems.
The last significant effect of drinking and driving is connected to the worth of human life and the likelihood of innocent victims. As soon as drunk drivers choose to become road traffic participants, they directly impact other drivers’ lives. It could happen that another driver is not able to manage the situation on the road and gets injured in a car accident, not because of his/her fault. Other examples of unpredictable victims are pedestrians who do not use cars or other vehicles but happen to be on the street where a drunk driver questions safety and control. Unfortunately, drunk driving is one of the common reasons for unpredictable and unfair death. A road crash takes a life immediately, and nothing can be changed. If there is a chance to decrease human deaths by avoiding drunk driving, it should never be neglected.
Drinking and driving discussions attract the attention of millions of people around the world, including men and women of any age, race, and ethnicity. Three major outcomes of drunk driving can hardly be avoided, namely physiological changes, legal problems, and innocent victims. All drivers are responsible for making fast and sound decisions and being concentrated on the road. If alcohol deprives a person of the possibility to stay rational and legal, it is necessary to re-evaluate a situation and consider other options. The number of deaths in road accidents continues to grow, and this essay should help the reader to realize the outcomes and predict negative consequences.
Drink driving is a severe problem in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). According to Budget Direct (2021), approximately one out of four fatal crashes within the ACT involve alcohol. The hypothetic anti-drink driving intervention targets men 25-40 years old living in Canberra and is based on the algorithm described by Eagle et al. (2012). In particular, the social marketing intervention planning process can be divided into seven stages: problem scoping, situation analysis, asset mapping, evaluation planning, intervention development, intervention implementation, and full evaluation (Eagle et al., 2012). Each of these stages might present practical challenges for a marketer, forcing them to undertake specific tasks. Overall, the ultimate goal of this paper lies in identifying key tasks that would be undertaken at all stages of the social marketing intervention planning process and evaluating the potential success of the plan.
Analysis and Discussion
Scoping the Problem
The first task for a social marketer would be identifying behavioural problems via secondary research. Regarding discussed intervention, a social marketer might utilize survey data and official information from government sources government. For instance, Budget Direct (2021) survey revealed that 32,7% of Australian drivers aged between 25 and 34 do not know the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) in their state. The ACT Government (no date) sets a legal BAC of 0,05g of alcohol in 100mL of blood. However, this vital information might be unknown to many drivers within the targeted group.
Awareness of Legal BAC Limit in Australia by Driver’s Age
Situation Analysis: Planning and Implementing Primary Research
The previously mentioned Budget Direct survey on drink driving in Australia has a significant issue of lacking the ACT-specific data. Therefore, a social marketer should undertake primary research focused on male residents of Canberra aged between 25 and 40 years. For example, a social marketer might ask questions about BAC limit and BAC reduction techniques. Consequently, a marketer would understand the scope of the problem — how many drivers inside the targeted group are unaware of the legal BAC and believe that BAC can be reduced by other means than waiting.
Asset Mapping
A social marketer may face resource-related difficulties, which can undermine the intervention’s effectiveness. The partnership approach to marketing is commonly practised in solving sensitive social issues with limited resources (Bilal Akbar et al., 2021). In the case of an anti-drink driving campaign, a marketer could appeal to such stakeholders as Australian Federal Police (AFP), the ACT Government, and close relatives of the targeted population members. The AFP and ACT Government would be interested in road incidents reduction, whereas family members would be willing to protect their male relatives.
SWOT Analysis
In the third stage, a social marketer would likely have to conduct a SWOT analysis. According to Eagle et al. (2012), SWOT analysis summarises key findings of the problem scoping stage. The preliminary SWOT analysis of anti-drink driving intervention is presented below:
Strengths: relatively low (7,7%) prevalence of drink driving in Australian males (Budget Direct, 2021);
Weaknesses: low awareness about the BAC limit in the ACT; low awareness about the ineffectiveness of BAC reduction techniques;
Opportunities: involvement of secondary stakeholder groups — AFP, ACT Government, family;
Threats: inability to explain the significance of the problem; failure to reduce the number of drink driving-related incidents.
Evaluation Planning
In the fourth stage of planning, a marketer should consider the future evaluation of the intervention’s results. According to Eagle et al. (2012), this stage may include the following activities: baseline data identification, SMART objective setting, and establishing of evaluation criteria. Regarding the anti-drink driving intervention, a marketer can obtain baseline data from primary and secondary research. The SMART objective can be set as reducing the number of drink driving-related incidents in the ACT by 30% over the next three years. Lastly, the awareness percentage of BAC-related information and the total number of drink driving incidents can be selected as evaluation criteria.
Intervention Development
At the fifth stage of the planning process, a marketer would have to develop a set of practical interventions. This stage includes identifying marketing techniques helpful in achieving the desired behavioural change (Eagle et al., 2012). White, Habib, and Hardisty (2019) offer a SHIFT framework for behavioural changes. Initially developed for changing consumer behaviours, this framework can be used to promote an anti-drink driving mindset. For instance, drivers’ behaviour may be altered via such facets of social influence as norms, identities, and desirability (White, Habib, and Hardisty, 2019). In particular, the intervention may promote ideas that a socially-responsible driver knows BAC limits and understands that only sufficient waiting guarantees safety.
Intervention Implementation
The intervention implementation stage sets the task of launching the developed intervention. According to Eagle et al. (2012), a full launch should begin after completing a pilot test. Therefore, the launch of an anti-drink driving intervention in Canberra would follow a pilot test on a limited scope, such as one of the city districts. In addition, the pilot test would have to be accompanied by monitoring in order to compare preliminary results against the benchmarks set at the evaluation planning stage.
Evaluation and Follow Up Activities
Once the intervention is fully implemented, a social marketer must complete the evaluation and follow up tasks. At the evaluation stage, the data gathered after a pre-designated intervention period is compared against the evaluation criteria. The follow-up activities include result dissemination on the national and global levels (Eagle et al., 2012). Overall, the Canberran anti-drink driving intervention would be successful if the main SMART objective (30% incident reduction over three years) is achieved. Additional success criteria are the growing awareness of BAC-related information within the targeted population.
Conclusion
In summary, a marketer has to undertake multiple challenging tasks throughout the seven stages of the social marketing intervention planning process. On the hypothetic example of anti-drink driving intervention targeted at men of the 25-40 age group living in Canberra, one can see the immense complexity of social marketing planning. A marketer has to conduct primary research in case secondary research data is insufficient, map the assets to find collaborators, choose the correct behaviour-changing intervention, implement it, and evaluate success.
In the case of the anti-drink driving campaign in Canberra, the hypothetic SMART objective is a 30% reduction in drink driving incidents over three years. Additional criteria are awareness increase of BAC-related information, such as the legal BAC limit in the ACT and waiting as the only effective way of BAC reduction. The success of the intervention would be evaluated via a comparison of the intervention’s results against the main SMART objective and the measurement of post-intervention data on BAC-related awareness.
Recommendations
Analyzing the social marketing intervention planning process allows one to formulate four practical recommendations. Most importantly, a social marketer should treat intervention planning as a complex individual process. There is no universal recipe for success, and only general guidelines exist. However, a marketer should understand that including certain stages might be necessary. For instance, a hypothetic anti-drink driving intervention in Canberra would require additional primary research due to the lack of secondary research data. In addition, a marketer should follow the guidelines for completing specific stages of intervention planning. A stage should include all mandatory tasks; for instance, the evaluation would be incomplete without follow-up activities. Finally, the key aspects of the intervention — behavioural changing techniques and choice of collaborators and partners should be tailored to the targeted population group. Misjudgment in that component would decrease the intervention’s effectiveness to the point of complete failure.
Akbar, M. B., et al. (2021) ‘An analysis of social marketing practice: factors associated with success’, Health Marketing Quarterly, pp. 1-21.
Budget Direct. Australian drink driving survey & statistics 2021. Web.
Eagle, L. et al. (2012) Social marketing. New York: Pearson.
White, K., Habib, R., and Hardisty, D. (2019) ‘How to shift consumer behaviors to be more sustainable: a literature review and guiding framework’, Journal of Marketing, 83(3), pp. 22-49.
Driving under the influence (DUI) is known to be one of the most threatening tendencies in the world of nowadays. Unfortunately, this happening is not rare on the contemporary roads. Driving under the influence has gradually become one of the most common death and injury causes across the world. Millions of Americans are arrested for drunken driving every year. Alcohol-related car accidents annually lead to damages that approximately cost over forty five billion dollars. According to the calculations based on the statistical data collected from all around the world, people are killed and injured in car crashes related to alcohol every thirty seconds.
Within the period of time between 2000 and 2005 at least one hundred and three thousand people were killed in such car accidents only in the United States of America. This statistics often counts the accidents that were caused both by drunken drivers and drunken pedestrians. Generally, driving under the influence of alcohol increases the risk of getting into a car accident significantly. The modern law system keeps working on new policies and regulations designed to reduce the number of drunken drivers in the streets of the United States and minimize the risk of injuries in alcohol-related car accidents. Of course, not all of such policies prove to be effective.
One of the most common policies provided in order to decrease the risk of drunken driving among the population of the US is harsh penalties. This regulation is known to be ineffective, because the drivers are aware that the statistical risk of being caught driving under the influence is very low. Out of one thousand of drunken drivers only two or three will be arrested (Scott, Sharpee 2013). The positive side of harsh penalties is that they can be used as a reason to get the arrested drivers into rehab or treatment, make them parts of monitoring programs or encourage them to set an ignition interlock into their vehicles. Sobriety checkpoints are another contradictory policy, because it does not work effectively under some circumstances and detects very few drunken drivers (DUI Checkpoints Called Ineffective 2004).
The measure that has proved to be very effective is police stops. The bigger the number of such stops, the more effective the policy is. Another very efficient policy is confiscating the vehicles or licenses from the drivers that were caught drunk. Developing new programs and rules the American law system and policy creators have to see the issues from various angles and sides. For example, the restaurant and bar industry plays a very important role in the process of reduction of the risk of drunk driving. This is why the bar closing regulations make a big difference for the statistics of alcohol-related car accidents.
The Task Force also trains officers to notice the traits and signs of drunk driving. The officers take special roll calls wearing recognizable uniform on the holidays related to heavy drinking to make the potential drunken drivers aware that the roads are under constant control, this is also a very effective policy.
Finally, the theoreticians of the drunken driving problem are very important in the process of policy creation, because they are responsible for data collection (Impaired Driving Data: A Key to Solving the Problem 2010). In case if the data is invalid or unreliable, the policies based on such information will not bring the desired results. Poor data can create such problems as public misunderstanding of the addressed issues, misled legislation and waste of costs.
Reference List
DUI Checkpoints Called Ineffective (2004). Enquirer. Web.
Impaired Driving Data: A Key to Solving the Problem (2010). Traffic Injury Research Foundation. Web.
Scott, M. S., Sharpee, T. (2013). Deterring Drunk Driving: What Works (and What Doesn’t)? Web.
The video presents a case that involved dangerous driving that caused the death of a woman. The hearing occurred in 2018 at the county court of Victoria. The accused and the judge were called Mr. Thomas Hugo Kunahan and Madame Forewoman respectively. The court maintained that the offense in the case was a statutory offense that implied the dangerous driving of the accused, whose eventuality resulted in the death of the woman victim (County Court of Victoria, 2018). However, the court maintained the case was not murder as there was no intent of an evil mind and that the accused was driving while distracted by the phone (Murray, 2019, p. 1125). Additionally, the court maintained critical elements of the case, which included. First, when the offense was committed, the accused was driving a motor vehicle. Secondly, the court maintained that the accused was driving at a speed that threatened the public’s safety. Finally, dangerous driving resulted in the death of the victim. Thus, the accused was fully liable for the offense committed.
Arguably, the accused is well represented by his respective lawyer. Criminal offenses occur in numerous forms; accidental events form part of the criminal offenses. While some accidents end up unreported, thus offenders escaping the jurisdiction, other accidents are noticed and attract hefty penalties. According to Dicey’s ‘rule of law’ advocated that no one should be lawfully made to suffer in either goods or in person except for the law breaching actions on the formed law under legal obligation before the court (Hamida et al., 2018, p.84). While this law aims to protect innocent individuals from lawful punishment, it has direct implications that the offenders should be held accountable. Therefore, considering the case presented, it is clear that the court’s decision on the case was lawful and its implications were acceptable.
The Dicey’s ‘rule of law’ was to instil fear in the general public by punishing the offender to send a message to others. This was instrumental as it would help avert similar offenses. Furthermore, the law ensured that the accused whose criminal actions were proven were entirely held accountable. The interaction between the judge, prosecutor, and the defense counsel was highly interactive and appropriated based on the case context. While each party aimed at playing their significant role responsibly, both parties focused on providing relevant facts that would shape the nature of the verdict. Similarly, while serving their responsibilities, both parties engaged in providing facts and information that suited their diverging interests.
The accused was a young man who committed the offense at 18 years. During the time of the offense, the accused seemed to be aware of his actions leading to the victim’s death. Firstly, the accused, who acknowledged that he was on the phone while approaching the direction victims, implied that he was aware of the dangers of driving while on the phone. Secondly, the accused concurred that he was driving at a relatively higher speed which was threatening public life, especially when he was approaching the roundabout. Contending to be driving carelessly at the given point directly impacts the accused’s understanding of the driving requirement, particularly on the roundabout and the risks of collision. Further, while in court, the victim seemed knowledgeable of the court’s reasons for his ruling. Following the court’s explanation of his sentencing and rehabilitation, the victim was made to understand the court’s reason. All the relevant facts that the court implied were acceptable to the accused. As a result, he appeared to be aware of the occurrences.
Police form the greatest role in the case and across the investigation. They avail relevant data and evidence from the crime sites, the arrest proceeding, and the continuous investigation and interrogation processes (Sun et al., 2018, p. 435). Following the accident evidence, police provided appropriate evidence in revealing the higher speed that the accused was at while approaching the roundabout (Mateen and Tariq, 2019. p 285). Further, supporting their evidence, they revealed that the accused was distracted as he was on the phone while approaching the roundabout actions, which caused a temporary distraction. High speed and phone usage are critical evidence of road-related accidents (Mousseau et al., 2019, p.524). The appropriateness of the police facts was validated to be causality factors in the accidents that led to the victim’s death.
The police gave unbiased evidence as it neither favored any party involved in the case. For instance, police are obliged by the law to provide evidence as a fundamental requirement; they are expected to be knowledgeable and accurate Brian and Cruickshank (2019, p. 368). Firstly, the police reiterated the risks involved in the accused’s actions. Similarly, the evidence provided justified the implication of the risks to the public. Trustful presentation of the location of the accident as part of the evidence was a good indicator of disinterest which police could have otherwise manipulated in favor of one party.
Law is a major obligatory organ that stipulates responsibilities and consequences of breaching the responsibilities. The main reason for the existence of law is to ensure that the public maintains law and order while minimizing harm resulting from others’ actions (Kokhanovskaya et al., 2019, p.02002). Similarly, Dicey argues that no man should be punished lawfully apart from when one breaching the postulated law (Chidi, 2020). However, unlawful actions should be discouraged through penalties and prison terms. Punishing the offender was not intended to harm the accused but to denounce the negative actions committed by the latter. Based on the case, the accused’s actions were declared and justified as wrongful. Whether intentional or unintentional, the accused committed a crime that led to the death of a victim (Rodgers, 2021, p.77). A review of the decision made by the court after a series of juror’s involvement was deemed satisfactory. Being a corrective organ, the court was to make the right decision not only in favor of one party but also for the community’s benefit.
Nevertheless, having encountered a loss following the careless actions of the accused, the complaint expected affair trial and judgment. Therefore, the court process has a responsibility to serve justice while also maintaining the community objective of the court (Schmidt, 2018, p.320). Based on the rule of law, the punishment towards the accused was relevant as it was the cause of his actions, such as desired for direct correction of his actions and facilitating shunning others from engaging in similar actions. In support of the court’s decision, it was justified to give a penalty and punishment, respectively, as it was fundamental to safeguard the desires of community improvement.
Furthermore, the assessment of the case has the direct implication of the court’s ability to elucidate clearly to the accused parties and the complaint on the unfolding issues in the case. Based on the manner the County court of Victoria presented the case, I acknowledge the system’s efficacy in place. The system was efficient as it made the repercussion of the accused’s actions (Bailey and Bailey, 2022, p. 58). A clear and logical explanation of the actions is instrumental in enabling the accused to understand the punishment attributed to their actions. Further, it is sufficient to make the individual know the importance of avoiding the crime by clearly presenting the reasons for court sentences. Such would invoke the individual to acknowledge their mistakes and prevent them in the future.
However, less focus was made on the complainants’ side throughout the court process. For instance, despite finding the accused guilty of the offense, the victim’s party was not focused. A victim’s tragic death directly impacts the deceased close family (Outland et al., (2020, p. 8). Being a mother, an insight should be made into the deceased family. To ensure that the family left behind will be sustained after the loss, the court should conduct a preview before the trial and articulate how it would manoeuvre over the issue. Arguably, the compensation process mainly relied on the actual status of the victim (Absar, 2020, p. 40). It is the collective responsibility of the court to mobilize the judicial proceeding to offset the untimely demise and loss by working closely with the accused family to compensate the victims’ side. Such would be instrumental in enabling the victim to recover from the untimely demises of their loved one.
Finally, this improvement would further strengthen the degree and implication of road carelessness, particularly on the typical offenses under question. This would be instrumental as the public would be more cautious considering the risk and danger, they would be placing themselves on in case of such accidents (Bakishev et al., 2019, p. 41). As a corrective function, the court would fully serve the role while ensuring balance and sharing losses between parties. It will also prevent adversity on the victim’s side.
Bailey, R. and Bailey, E., 2022. Effective communication with participants in court hearings: using polyvagal theory in the courtroom. Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 73(1), pp.57-66. Web.
Bakishev, K.A., Khanov, T.A., Nurgaliev, B.M. and Abdrahmanov, D.S., 2019. Punish ability and Punishment for Careless Transport Crimes. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics, 10(1 (39)), pp.41-51.
Brian, D. and Cruickshank, D.A., 2019. Police officers giving evidence: Understanding the enablers and challenges of performance. The Police Journal, 92(4), pp.360-383.
Chidi, A.P., 2020. Issues of Human Rights and Rule of Law in Africa. Tansian University Journal of Arts, Management and Social Sciences, 4(1). Web.
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Thesis and essay map: There is need for everyone to slow, be calm and considerate as this will bring sanity to our roads and eliminate unnecessary outrages and accidents.
Driving Slowly
There is need for all the road users to slow down and drive carefully. As a matter of fact road rage result from the feeling that time is wasted on the road. This is a realistic concern as one cannot afford to be always late for work, school, or business meetings. In order to avoid rushing on the road in order to beat deadlines one should wake up early to create enough time.
Waking up early will enable a person not to rush against time. One will have enough time and will be in a position to drive within the required safe speed limits. Since there is enough time, a driver will likely not be easily angered by a slight delay caused by a fellow driver on the road.
Planning Ahead
There is a need for everybody to plan ahead and give enough allowance for a day’s activities. By planning ahead and giving an allowance of, for instance, ten minutes for all the activities that are likely to be executed in a day where driving will come in then it is possible that drivers will not be rushing on the road attempting to beat deadlines.
Adding some time to the expected travel time puts one in a good position to stop for gas, carefully and safely navigate through the snowy roads and construction sites. Adding extra time to the expected time makes it possible for one to drive calmly.
Calm Music
There is a need to play calm music in your car. Playing of calm music in a car is especially helpful when one is caught up in a heavy road traffic which will likely take time to navigate away from.
When one is caught up in a traffic jam and time is running out then playing aggressive music is not the best option. Aggressive music will likely trigger aggressive behaviour thus there is need for some cool relaxing music without necessarily a lot of bass (Hersen 75). Cool music will go a long way to cool tempers and anxiety which build up as one spends more caught up in a traffic jam.
Road Rage is Unhealthy
There is a need for drivers to understand that giving up to anger has a long term effect on their health. People who are vulnerable to anger are more likely to suffer from heart attack. Shouting every time you are on the road will mean that you shout and get absurd everyday in your life. Subjecting one’s emotions to sad moods on a daily basis is simply stressing your body on a daily basis which likely build up to a depression point (Hersen 75).
Conclusion
Driving slowly and carefully will lessen the cases of road rage. People should wake up early enough so as to create enough time for driving slowly. There is also a need for people to plan their daily activities early and give some time allowance to the expected driving time. Giving time allowance makes it possible to cover unexpected delays such as stopping for gas and unexpected traffic jam.
In case one is caught up in a traffic jam then there is need to sooth your emotions with cool music as opposed to loud music with a lot of base which will likely make one aggressive. Lastly drivers should appreciate the fact that getting angry, shouting and cursing all the time they are on the road is not good for their health.
Work Cited
Hersen, Michael. Comprehensive Handbook of Psychological Assessment: Personality assessment. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2004. Print.
Drivers play an important role in the transport industry across the world as they transport goods and move passengers from one place to another. However, due to increased cases of accidents, safety is becoming a paramount issue in the transport industry. Since drivers are liable for the occurrence of accidents, experts have identified age as a critical factor that determines competence among drivers.
Across the world, age is an important factor in driving because accidents that normally happen vary according to age of drivers. Hence, the essay discusses the relationships between age and driving. In this view, the essay presents the risks that the old and the young drivers pose the transport industry.
Moreover, the essay also elaborates factors that reduce driving competence among drivers in a society and recommend why the state should enact regulations to govern age limitations and privileges concerning driving. Essentially, the essay highlights the importance and relevance of age limitations in the management and control of car accidents.
Introduction
Driving is an important activity in the transport industry because it promotes movement of goods and people from one destination to another. To drivers, driving gives them some form of independence and liberty as they have the capacity to control motor vehicles. In the past decade, the number of accidents in the transport industry has increased exponentially, and experts have attributed to careless driving.
Dobbs, Dobbs, and Triscott (2010) state that “although many older drivers are safe drivers, in the past 20 years crash rates have increased by 50% for senior drivers, but decreased by 10% percent for drivers under the age of 65” (p. 26). Thus, the increase in the level of accidents has forced the state to consider whether age is among the factors that have led to the increase in cases accidents. Therefore, the essay examines the reasons why the state should provide a limitation on driving privileges.
Age Limitation
Driving requires an active mind as it needs undivided attention and care so that drivers can prevent or evade causing accidents or crashes. In addition, driving requires good health because illnesses tend to affect the attention of an individual; hence increasing the chances of accidents while driving. Therefore, unhealthy individuals are not good drivers for they have high chances of causing accidents.
Since a number health complications such as arthritis, visual and audio impairment, poor judgement, and memory lapses increase with age of an individual, the elderly drivers have higher frequencies of car accidents than young drivers do. According to Wood (2011), ageing has many health challenges such as impaired visual judgement as the image quality degrades and the level of retinal illumination reduces (p. 24). Hence, there is a need to assess driving competence of drivers basing on their ages.
Furthermore, ageing affects the level of accuracy and judgement especially hearing and visual abilities. Hearing and visual abilities of an individual determine mental judgement. Poor hearing and visual abilities predispose drivers to cause accidents because they decrease capacity of mental judgement. Taylor (2010) highlights that “safety does not depend so much on what is seen, but rather on how quickly and adequately drivers respond to what is seen” (p. 14).
The statement clearly elaborates the significance of good judgement and activeness of driver’s mind in minimizing the frequency of car accidents. Therefore, good visual and audio abilities are key requirements for any individual who intends to drive. The fact that age affects these important requirements makes it fundamental for the state, and other relevant authorities to employ age in limiting the provision of driving privileges.
Effects of Age in Driving
Many senior drivers do not realize that they are no longer effective on the road. Contrarily, they find themselves in scenarios that increase the frequency of accidents. As opposed to individuals below 50 years, elderly people are usually slow in making decisions. Hence, they respond slowly to instances that need quick and efficient responses.
Slow response affects and reduces the ability of the driver to manoeuvre as they make decisions slowly. Dobbs, Dobbs, and Triscott (2010) note that many senior drivers are involved in car accidents because of their health conditions, which decrease their skills of driving, but not due to the infrastructure (p. 23). Hence, to mitigate road accidents, it is essential to provide age limitations on driving privileges.
Furthermore, as people grow old, they progressively develop many health problems. These problems reduce their effectiveness in driving as they affect abilities of drivers to manoeuvre through busy roads and highways. Cognitive impairments, visual and audio problems, as well as arthritis, make the drivers vulnerable to accidents. Moreover, advanced health complications can lead to abuse of drugs such as sleeping pills and painkillers.
These drugs can sometimes overpower the driver and lead to crashes and accidents. According to Bryan, Dufouil, and Ahmed (2000), forgetfulness, memory lapses, visual and audio impairments, difficulty in comprehension of verbal and written forms of communication, and judgemental problems makes one unfit to drive (p. 706). Since many of these problems associate with the elderly drivers, the state should provide legislations that limit driving privileges among drivers according to their ages.
Importance of Age Limitation in Driving
Age limitation is one of the core components that can help in reducing the number of accidents. The state should enact laws that minimize road carnage. Among the rules and regulations is the provision of age limitation to the individuals driving on busy roads and highways.
The limitations should govern junior and senior members of the society. Young members of the society make quick irrational decisions, such as wrong turns, u-turns, and breaking traffic laws, which increase chances of accidents. Additionally, they may engage in activities such as drug and substance abuse.
According to Olsen, Shults, and Eaton (2013), the youth drivers are likely to cause accidents because they engage in drug abuse or use their cell phones while driving (p. 1712). Such behaviours greatly affect their driving skills and put them at a high risk of causing accidents. Therefore, the state should provide measures, which will limit driving privileges according to ages of individuals as a means of reducing accidents.
On the other hand, many elderly individuals are forgetful, have poor visual and hearing abilities, slow in making decisions, and suffer many health complications that render them poor drivers.
The poor visual and hearing abilities of the elderly drivers make them cause accidents, because they cannot see movement of other vehicles or users of the road clearly and cannot listen to warning sounds from other users of the road. According to Taylor (2010), good judgments is associated with hearing visual abilities and are very important for drivers especially when they are on highways or busy roads (p. 15).
Since many young and elderly people portray a number of challenges on the road related to irrational decisions and poor judgements, they are not fit to drive on many highways. Therefore, driving privileges should be limited to a certain age of individuals who are still active, energetic, and can make rational or sound decisions. In this view, government should enact legislations that apportion driving privileges according to the age of drivers.
Relevance of Age Limitation in Driving Privileges
Age limitation is a very important element in minimization and reduction of accidents associated with old and young individuals. Unfortunately, many junior and senior people do not realize that they are no longer fit to drive.
According to Roy and Lucille (2005), missing traffic signs, driving below the speed limit, difficulty in managing resources, and poor time management are some of the signs that drivers should note when driving in major highways (p. 9). Unfortunately, these signs appear gradually and so the drivers may not take them seriously, and thus, some drivers ignore them. Consequently, there is a need for the state to implement driving regulations strictly and define the age that is good for driving.
In addition, there are a number of factors other than age, which can cause accidents. Drug abuse is one the major factors that can lead to accidents. Abuse of drugs is highly prevalent among many youth. Drugs such heroin, cocaine, and alcohol affect mental judgement of the distance, and consequently increases drivers’ vulnerability to accidents.
Furthermore, the use of cell phones while driving is another aspect that has increased the number of accidents. Foss, Godwin, McCartt, and Hellinga (2009) state that cell phones divide attention of drivers, and therefore, interfere with the individual’s ability to make sound decisions (p. 430). Hence, drug and substance abuse, use of cell phones, and failure to wear seatbelts are some of the factors, which together with age increase the numbers of accidents.
Conclusion
Increasing cases of road accidents have compelled policy makers and governments to formulate legislations that guide drivers in the transport industry. Among other factors, age is a critical factor that determines competence of drivers. Since the old drivers are prone to irrational decisions, memory lapses, arthritis, and poor judgement due to impaired vision and hearing, they are not good drivers as they are more likely to cause accidents.
On contrast, young drivers are more likely to engage in behaviours such as drug abuse, and violate other traffic rules and so just like the elderly drivers of the society. Therefore, the state and other relevant authorities should enact regulations that limit driving privileges basing on age of an individual to minimise the number of accidents related to age.
References
Bryan, C., Dufouil, C., & Ahmed, A. (2000). Very old driver: findings from a population cohort of people aged 84 and over. International Journal of Epidemiology, 29(4), 704-707.
Dobbs, B., Dobbs, A., & Triscott, A. (2010). Safe Driving for Seniors: Knowing when it is Time to Quit. Journal of Family Health, 26(3), 23-25.
Foss, R., Godwin, A., McCartt, A., & Hellinga, L. (2009). Short-Term Effects of a Teenage Driver Cell Phone Restriction. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 41(3), 419-424.
Olsen, E., Shults, R., & Eaton, D. (2013). Texting While Driving and Other Risky Motor Vehicle Behaviors among US High School Students. Pediatrics, 131(6), 1708-1715.
Roy, J., & Lucille, A. (2005). Driving License Eye Tests not Thorough Enough. USA Today, 133(2718), 9.
Taylor, S. (2010). Driving and Vision. The Optician, 240(6283), 14-17.
Wood, J. (2011). Driving and Vision. The Optician, 242(6316), 24-29
In the era of information technology, most people are guilty of sending text messages while driving. Whether it’s reading the text just received, sending a quick message to a friend, or having a full-text conversation, everyone has done one of these actions at least once. The invention of the smartphone did everything a person could wish for: get the news quickly, schedule a meeting with a friend, or inquire about how grandmother is feeling. Thus, most communication and entertainment needs can be met with a smartphone within minutes. This fact allows drivers to feel the need to perform multiple tasks at the same time while driving. Although drivers know that this action has legal consequences, many still do it today. The introduction of a ban on sending text messages while driving prevents some drivers from sending text messages while driving, but not all. Therefore, the introduction of stricter laws and tougher punishment would help reduce the number of text messages sent while driving, which would make the environment safer.
With over 330 million wireless users in the United States, texting while driving has become an epidemic. Tontodonato and Drinkard note that over half of drivers admitted to engaging in cell phone-related distractions while driving (827). At the same time, texting while driving not only takes cognitive skills but motor skills as well. Studies have shown that driving while on a cell phone reduces brain activity by 37%. One may think that any distractions while driving, whether it is talking to a passenger or having kids in the car, possess the same distraction as texting. However the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging reported that texting while driving is a greater distraction than talking to others due to the time eyes are away from the road and the amount of cognitive and motor skills it takes to text (Gupta et al., 89). Thus, many drivers send messages while driving, which is a distraction.
Although sending text messages while driving is prohibited in many US states, drivers continue to break the law. About and Adams state that the initial number of accidents caused by distracted driving decreased in the months after the initial texting ban while driving (180). However, the effect of the prohibition wears off after a few months. They conclude that drivers are reacting to the ban itself and not the act of texting while driving, only to return to their old habits later. Drivers are likely reacting to limited enforcement of bans or learning new ways to not get caught. Ferdinand et al. assert that the relationship between collision claims frequency and texting bans in Washington, California, Montana, and Louisiana reported an increase in collision claims when these states implemented the law (1373). It may be caused by individuals trying to hide their phones while still texting, making it, so their eyes are off the road for a longer period of time, causing more collisions. It shows that even with the current law on texting while driving, many users are still texting on their phones driving.
One of the tools in the fight against the distraction of drivers on their phones can be a license suspension. Since the penalties in most states for violating the ban on texting and driving are very low, in the order of several hundred dollars, this is not an effective deterrent to prevent people from texting while driving. It is noteworthy that some states have already begun the practice of limiting the license for using the phone while driving. For instance, according to McCurley, these include Rhode Island, which has a license suspension of 30 days for the first violation and 3 to 6 months for subsequent violations. Thus, more stringent legislation is required in the form of license suspension.
An even more severe measure against violators can be revocation of the license if the driver repeatedly suppresses the ban on texting while driving. So, if driving is the primary source of livelihood for the offender, trying not to lose the right to drive, people will be more attentive to the legislation. The revocation of a driving license aims to ensure public safety and increase the discipline of road users. Both suspension and revocation of a driver’s license include moral condemnation and material impact aimed at increasing discipline, the responsibility of citizens, and improving the social well-being of society.
Thus, as practice shows, most people will follow the law only when they know that they can face big trouble for breaking the law. With the lack of obedience that individuals have to the current laws against texting while driving, it would make sense that if they had harsher consequences for this act, they would have more respect for the law and follow it at a greater rate than they do now. Getting one’s license suspended for any period of time negatively affects their life. If the driver knew that this would be the consequence of texting while driving, the situation would surely change, and there would be a decrease in the number of people breaking this law.
Works Cited
Abouk, Rahi, and Scott Adams. “Texting Bans and Fatal Accidents on Roadways: Do They Work? Or Do Drivers Just React to Announcements of Bans?” American Economic Journal. Applied Economics, vol. 5, no. 2, American Economic Association, 2013, pp. 179–199.
Ferdinand, Alva O., et al. “Impact of Texting Laws on Motor Vehicular Fatalities in the United States.” American Journal of Public Health (1971), vol. 104, no. 8, 2014, pp. 1370–1377.
Gupta, Pola B., et al. “Texting While Driving: An Empirical Investigation of Students’ Attitudes and Behaviors.” Information Systems Management, vol. 33, no. 1, Taylor & Francis, 2016, pp. 88–101.
Tontodonato, Pamela, and Allyson Drinkard. “Social Learning and Distracted Driving Among Young Adults.” American Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 45, no. 5, 2020, pp. 821–843.