Currently texting or short message service (SMS) is on the peak of their popularity. As it is informed by Austin, the number of messages a month has increased from 9.8 to 110.4 billion messages only within a period between 2005 and 2008. A major portion of these messages has been sent by drivers. These figures demonstrate that modern people tend to be more occupied by their business, which often leads to carelessness on the roads and to many accidents. Therefore, this issue demands deep consideration with undertaking serious measures.
Texting is included to the list of the reasons for distracted driving. “Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. All distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety” (“What is distracted driving”). The list of reasons includes eating, drinking, talking, reading, listening to music, and unfortunately, texting is the most riskful distraction (“What is distracted driving”).
It is important to understand the rationale for people to send text messages while driving. The study by Seiler could identify that nowadays texting at the wheel has become a norm since people need to be constantly connected to their folks by mobile. Also, drivers whose work requires being in touch with colleagues or customers are likely to send messages on the roads. Next rationale is that people can text while driving because they imitate the others’ behavior and think that it is a norm. Finally, the study shown that such behavior can be inherent to people disregarding cultural norms (Seiler 76).
As it has been mentioned, people can have various motivations to text at the wheel; but none of them can excuse a harm caused by such carelessness. Before picking their phones to send a message, all the drivers must remember that texting represents a huge danger for people’s life as well as increases injuries and damages to property (“The dangers of texting while driving”).
The risk of texting at the wheel is real, which could be proved by various statistical figures. Here are ten statistical facts taken from the Huffpost Healthy Living website:
9 – Number of Americans dying annually from car accidents caused by distracted drivers.
1 in 4 – 1 car accident out of 4 is likely to be a result of texting at the wheel.
33% - The percentage of American drivers between 18 and 64 years old who admitted using their mobile phones on the road. In contrast, in Spain this figure is almost a half less.
341,000 - Number of road accidents in 2013, which were caused by cellphones.
4X – The extent to which texting at the wheel increases the probability of a car accident.
2 - Number of seconds for a driver to look away from the road without brining any danger.
5 - Number of seconds for drivers to send a message while being on the road.
46 - Number of states (including Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands) which officially prohibit sending messages when driving a car.
21 – 24 – People between these ages send text messages on the road more frequently than any other age groups. (Schumaker). These data can be as scaring as persuasive for those drivers who overuse this bad habit.
It is a global problem that demands solving as soon as possible till these numbers start soaring. In this respect, Seiler suggests a list of reasonable and necessary measures. These include educating people about the danger of texting while driving with the help of marketing, media and advertising; putting special reminders to drivers on car dashboards; and modernizing car technological equipment by adding voice-text converting devices (Seiler 76).
Works Cited
Austin, Michael “Texting While Driving: How Dangerous is it?” Car and Driver. Hearst Men’s Group, Jun. 2009. Web. 6 Jun. 2016.
Schumaker, Erin. “10 Statistics that Capture the Dangers of Texting and Driving.” Huffpost Healthy Living. The Huffington Post, 7 Jul. 2015. Web. 6 Jun. 2016.
Seiler, Steven J. “Hand on the wheel, mind on the mobile: an analysis of social factors contributing to texting while driving.” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 18.2 (2015): 72-78. Web. 6 Jun. 2016.
“The Dangers of Texting while Driving.” Federal Communications Commission. Federal Government of the United States, 4 Nov. 2015. Web. 6 Jun. 2016.
“What is distracted driving?” Official US Government Website for Distracted Driving. U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d. Web. 6 Jun. 2016.
