Omar A. Rodriguez
Texting and Driving
technology plays a very important roll in today's society such as innovative instruments in
hospitals, things we use everyday in our household. But the most important aspect of
technology is that it has made communication easier and faster for example e-mails
(electronic mails) which can be defined as letters you read in a computer or a hand-held
mail enabled phone or pda. another important if not the most important communications
device is the cellular phone it helps you make calls and send text messages all this a small
portable device. but is technology good or bad? in todays society many people take
advantage of this communication devices in a very dangerous way such as texting and
driving
in the united states many individuals have access to text messaging which is a way of
communication that works as people can interact with eachother without having to "talk"
on the phone, by writing short 160 character notes, it has now become a trend more seen in
teenagers ranging from ages 13 to 20 who seem to be "looking at the phone all day long" as
many parents would say, this is because it makes it more entertaining than a phone call
sicne you can do other things while you are talking or "texting" with someone. This is a
good thing because your not limited to doing just one thing, the bad thing is that many
people use it in a bad way such as “texting and driving” this is when an individual as the
name implies it is sending text messages while operating a motored vehicle such as a car.
When a person is driving or operating a motored vehicle the person needs to have one
hundred percent concentration on the road and its surroundings and texting takes away
most of a persons concentrarion and vision, it doesnt matter if the person takes a quick look
at his phone, even a second or a simple distraction can lead to a major accident therfore
bringing anywhere from minor injuries all the way to death. Not just to the person driving
the vehicle but to other ones that surround them. This brings up the question which is more
harmful? Texting and driving or Driving Under the Influence one could think that driving
under the influence is way more dangerous than just looking at a text message but survey
by the Transportation Research Laboratory in England shows the reaction time of drivers
17 to 24 years of age was reduced by 35 per cent when typing a text message, compared
with 12 per cent when driving after consuming alcohol to the legal limit. A similar study by
the University of Utah found that the impairments associated with talking on a cell phone
can be as profound as those associated with driving while intoxicated. This shows that
texting and driving is more dangerous that driving when you have alcohol in your system
but a survey conducted in the United States last summer by State Farm, the largest insurer
in Canada and the United States, found that teens don't view texting while driving as
dangerous as driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Therefore not taking as many
cautions as they would when drinking and driving.
A research conducted by the America Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic
Safety shows that 7 out of 10 people admit to text while they were driving this means that
in el paso tx which is home to around 700,000 and if all these people drove a vehicle there
would be 490000 drivers texting. This would be a major problem for the people in the sun
city.
Texting and driving has become a major issue in todays society even though the dangers of
texting and driving have only recently begun to receive the attiention it deserves and the
goverment has barely started to take action towards this problem accidents caused by
drivers who send or read text messages instead of paying attention to the road and their
surroundigs may result in a really bad injury ore ven death thereofre it is one of the major
cause of accidents in our society right next to drinking and driving and driving under the
influence of a drug or anything that alters the humand mind