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Each day in the United States, approximately nine people are killed and more than 1,000
injured in crashes that are reported involving a distracted driver. Distracted driving is driving
while doing another activity that takes your attention away from driving. This meaning that
distracted driving is dangerous. Distracted driving is dangerous, and I will prove that by using
the three ways of rhetoric.
Distracted driving can increase the chance of a motor vehicle crash. David Strayer used
two sophisticated driving simulators, an instrumental vehicle, an eye tracker, and a way to
measure brain activity to pinpoint what happens when a person is driving distracted. David
Strayer found out that the person was not looking at the road, staying in their lane, and missing
traffic lights. All these are ways to increase the crash risk. According to David Strayer, “The
visual, manual, and cognitive distractions increase the crash risk.” An example of a visual
distraction when driving is looking at your phone. An example of a manual distraction is when
you use your hands to text. An example of a cognitive distraction is when you are mentally
paying attention to the content of the text message you are reading or sending. This shows that
distracted driving is dangerous using ethos.
Distracted driving can affect anyone and those around you. Alexander Heit had a spotless
record and wasn’t speeding, yet he still died to distracted driving. A witness says that before his
car drifted off the road, Alexander had his head down not looking at the road. Alexander Heit’s
final text message cut off mid-sentence before as he crashed. Mrs. Heit doesn’t want anyone else
to lose someone to distracted driving and that is why she shared her son’s death. Five-year-old
Moriah Modisette died on Christmas Eve after a distracted driver plowed into the back of her
family’s car on a Texas highway, according to police reports. This shows that distracted driving
can affect those around you. “In September 2016, Mitchel Kiefer, an 18-year-old freshman at
Michigan State University, died on a highway after an inattentive driver slammed into his car
when traffic slowed.” - Greg Gardner. This shows that distracted driving is dangerous using
pathos.
Distracted driving kills and injures people every day. According to TeenSafe, more than
3,000 individuals or nine people per day are killed because of distracted driving. Integrity
Insurance said, “Truck drivers are 23 times more likely to be in an accident when texting behind
the wheel”. NHTSA says, “Teens were the largest age group reported as distracted at the time of
fatal crashes”. These statistics show that distracted driving is killing and injuring teens and adults
every day.
Distracted driving is dangerous, and I proved it by using the 3 ways of rhetoric.
Distracted driving increases the crash risk with the visual, manual, and cognitive distractions.
Distracted driving effects anyone and those around you even if you have a spotless record or
have no one in your lane. Distracted driving is also one of the top killers behind the wheel. These
are some of the ways distracted driving is dangerous.