Is a phone call really worth someone’s life? In today’s society, citizens are faced with many distractions while driving. When people drive, they encounter disturbances varying from electronics to food that cause them to take part of their attention away from the road. These interruptions that society faces affect countless amounts of people in ways some would not even image. Distractions cause crashes which then take not only people’s lives, but also hard earned money from those who were not even in the crash.
Any distractions while driving, including drinking, texting, or driving with fatigue, are so dangerous that they could cost the driver their life and cause others to pay for the damage; thus changing the course of the driver’s own life and impacting society. Due to alcohol having such a drastic affect on a person’s mind, the chances of driving safely while intoxicated are almost impossible. In today’s world, drunk drivers or pedestrians are involved in about 32% of all fatal car accidents (“Driving While Impaired… “). Being intoxicated while driving affects people’s ability to make smart and safe decisions in a short amount time.
According to the article “Driving While Impaired… “, “When alcohol is consumed many of the skills that safe driving requires- such as judgement, comprehension, coordination, visual activity, and reaction timebecome impaired” (Driving While Impaired… ). Since alcohol is a depressant, it slows down the person’s brain function, making it harder to make fast decisions. Moreover, because alcohol is so easily attainable it is getting more common for someone to get into a drunk driving crash sometime in their life. However, drunk driving comes with consequences beyond a crash that will affect the driver both in long and short terms.
Furthermore, being drunk while driving is not something taken lightly by anyone. Thus causing all 50 states to create laws that make driving under the influence a crime coming with life-changing punishments. In 2011 alone, over 1. 2 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence (“Driving While Impaired… ‘). All of which will face unexpected consequences that will influence their lives. Being convicted of drunk driving comes with the following repercussions: loss and prevention of employment, higher insurance rates, financial setbacks, and jail time (“Driving While Impaired… ). Consequences also include: temporary license suspension, fees, community service, loss of scholarships or college financial aid, and rejection from certain colleges (Dasgupta). From hundreds of studies, citizens will find that driving under the influence is a serious crime that comes with serious punishments. Nevertheless, there are other effects of driving under the influence then to just the driver. In today’s society, citizens think that accidents are only payed for by those in the crash; however, that is far from the truth.
On average, each year the United States spends $199 billion on drunk driving crashes (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). This is an insane amount of money for something that innocents should not even have to pay for. To have to spend $199 billion per year on just drunk driving accidents seems outrageous, especially since the majority of those paying are not even the causes for those crashes. Next, too many innocent people are affected from drunk driving accidents. In fact, every 2 minutes a person is injured in a drunk driving crash, and in 2013, every 52 minutes someone was killed by a drunk driving accident (“Drunk Driving Statistics”).
Each year, the United States loses too many lives and hurts too many innocent people. Drunk driving not only affects the driver, but also the other drivers in the crash and society as a whole. However, drunk driving is not the worse distraction while driving. Increasing in rate each year, texting while driving affects the lives of millions. Something as simple as sending a text to a friend or calling a family member could be the cause for ending your own or someone else’s life. This is because people are mentally being sucked out of the real world while driving at high speeds in a thousand pound metal car.
Texting while driving makes the driver 23 times more likely to get into a car crash (Kiesbye 63). Which is because of the fact that the driver is basically driving blind. In the article “Because Texting and Driving Kills”, it states “5 seconds- the minimal amount of time your attention is taken away from the road when you are texting while driving. If you’re traveling at 55 mph, this equals driving the length of a football field without looking at the road. ” Whenever, a driver moves their attention away from the road they are in a sense making themselves blind to the outside word.
Which then causes an increase in accidents for something that could wait for later. When it comes to texting while driving, the driver is distracted on a substantially higher level than with any other types of interruptions. While any type of distraction could threaten the driver, texting while driving is especially dangerous because it combines all three types of disturbances: visual — driver takes their eyes off of the road; manual– driver takes their hands off of the steering wheel; and cognitive– driver takes their mind off of driving (“Driving While Impaired… “).
Even if it is a young adult with a quick mind, talking on the phone or texting while driving causes anyone’s reaction time to become as slow as an elderly person. Using phones while driving in anyway is a distraction, both handheld or hands-free. “The IIHS reported that a driver’s likelihood of getting in an accident increases fourfold when talking on a wireless phone, whether handheld or handsfree” (Kiesbye 12). The distraction itself does not come from messing with the phone, but instead it is caused by the actual act of talking or texting. By talking in the phone, the driver’s brain is removed from reality and thus causing the distraction.
Which, brings up the question, is texting while driving more dangerous than drunk driving? From countless amounts of studies, people have come to the interesting conclusion that texting while driving is in fact more threatening than drinking while driving. In 2005, a study put to test if talking on the phone is more dangerous than DUI. The results were that cellphone users, both handheld or hands-free, recated 18% slower to braking behind the car in front of them and were more likely to have a rear-end-collision than drunk drivers (Kiesbye 42-43).
Which is astonishing news since no one ever compares drunk driving to being better than texting while driving. However, that is what the case is. No matter if it is handheld or hands-free phone, the chances of crashing are much higher than if the driver is drunk. Nevertheless, texting and drinking while driving are not the only life changing distractions that take place in a car. With many not able to get enough sleep, the nation is full of tired drivers. Even though it may seem like a small and not life threatening distraction, it is.
There is an estimated 328,000 crashes per year, total including 109,000 crashes resulting in injuries and 6,400 fatal car crashes (“Drowsy Driving Statistics”). However, that is not all of the crashes. As significant as those numbers may be, most fatigue drivers go unreported unless they admit to it since there is no true way to test for tiredness. Thus, the amount of drowsy driving crashes may be much higher than what has been estimated. Which brings up the point of how drowsy driving is so dangerous. When people get tired, they become mentally less aware; therefore, making it deadly when combined with driving. Drowsiness slows reaction time, makes drivers less attentive and impairs decision-making skill… ” (“Drowsy Driving-… “). By not being able to make smart and fast decisions, drivers increase their chances of crashes. This is similar to what drunk driving does to people, because both distractions prohibit drivers from making safe choices while on the road.
Drowsy driving is a serious distraction that should not be taken lightly. Those at risk for being tired while driving include drivers who work at night or have long shifts, drivers with untreated sleep disorders, drivers hat use sedating medications, and drivers who do not get enough sleep (“Drowsy Driving-… “). Especially since there are so many people who fit into the category for those at possible risk, people should be more aware of the serious threat that drowsy driving has on society and people’s lives. Nevertheless, texting, drinking, and sleeping while driving are not the only distractions. There are hundreds of disturbances that drivers face every day that could pose as potential problems that go beyond texting, drinking, or sleeping while driving.
Other distractions in the car include eating or drinking, talking with others, interacting with any electronics, and singing or dancing to the radio. Ever single distraction that happens in a car poses as a threat to the driver’s life and others in society. Distractions in the car are deadly and are unnecessary. Although some interruptions may seem less harmful, they all cause the same outcomes. No matter the disturbance, anything that takes the drivers complete attention from the road is enough to be life threatening.
Even more, the accidents caused affect our society as well. All accidents are paid for by not only the person who caused the accident but also by the average American citizen. As a total, distracted driving is estimated to be the cause for 21% of injury crashes and 16% of fatal accidents (“Traffic Safety Facts”). Each of these accidents are paid for by the nation, even if it is just a small amount of money. However, no amount of money should be paid for by those not in the crash, but that is not the case.
A report from the US Department of Transportation determined that the cost of car crashes came to a total of $230. 6 billion, and on average $820 per person (Kittleson). For some every dollar counts and having to pay for other people’s mistakes should not be allowed. All those that pay for car crashes expenses are in . Distracted driving is a serious problem that not only affect lives of those in the accidents, but also the innocents. All distractions while driving are dangerous enough to put the driver and someone else’s life in danger; changing both the driver’s life and ffecting society.
There are countless amounts of distractions in the car today that cause the driver to lose complete attention from the road. These distraction include texting, drinking, and driving with fatigue. Every single one of them cause accidents that the lead to deaths and millions of money spent to pay off the damage. However, nothing can bring back the lives of those that are lost. So each person has to make the choice of what is more important, a life or a distraction. “You never know: The most important call of your life could be the one you never make” – Stefan Kiesbye.
