There are massive numbers of fatal car accidents as a result of distracted drivers every year. Drivers may be distracted by a range of factors or activities such as eating, texting while driving and drunk driving, music, disruption by children and other people in the car, as well as fixing the hair or putting on makeup. Different laws have been formulated to control the habit of texting and drunk driving as they have been considered the main causes of accidents among the factors named above. People will continue to die if they do not obey the laws put to govern these ill behaviors amongst drivers. Drunk driving and texting while driving have equal harm since they both impair the vision of the driver, reaction of the driver, as well as the concentration of the driver and vigilance.
Consideration of factors such as concentration on roads, the vision and the reaction of the driver, plus extensive soberness would be fundamental in avoiding road accidents. These are extremely useful skills for preventing accidents, deaths, as well as injuries annually. This means that there is critical need to develop extensive strategies to minimize the rate of texting and drunk driving (Cook and Randall 546).
The vision of the driver is extremely fundamental to avoid road accidents. Anything that may impair the vision of the driver should be avoided. In most cases, the vision of the driver gets impaired when he or she diverts his or her focus from the road. Fast driving while drunk and texting may also be a cause of impaired vision. It would be wise to not that even an extremely low content of alcohol in the body system of a driver would disorient his driving ability as it equally affects the nervous system leading to impaired vision. The inability to have clear view of what is happening on the roads would definitely lead to an accident.
The reaction of a driver towards an incidence on the road should be prompt. This is a determinant moment where one may save or loose lives. Drivers should respond immediately to emergencies but it would be impossible if the driver is drunk or he is engaged in texting while driving. Like the alcohol may cause drowsiness, the phone may carry way the mind of an individual reducing their concentration on the road leading to woeful road accidents. At some point, the phone may initiate an extremely attractive or interesting conversation that requires exclusive concentration. This means the driver is likely to be carried away by the conversation forgetting that he or she is driving (Cook and Randall 548). This will definitely lead to loss of direction landing the driver into a ditch or another vehicle ahead. Therefore, for fast reaction to an emergency, the driver should avoid driving while drunk and texting.
Driver’s concentration on the road is extensively fundamental in avoiding road accidents. Most drivers lose their concentration on the road when they presume that they can multitask. Drunkard drivers will always have a range of thoughts in their minds thus they cannot concentrate on the road. This is the same case for those who text as they drive since they are unlikely to concentrate on driving as they tend to flow with the conversation on the phone. Research findings indicate that approximately three-quarters of adult drivers experience distractions while driving, but they believe they can drive any vehicle while distracted (Lerner 2). However, accidents resulting from drunk driving and texting while driving can be avoided through execution of extensive concentration on the road by drivers.
While driving, people need to be keen of their thoughts and the status of their minds. Soberness is critical in driving as it keeps oneself aware of all activities taking place on the road. However, it may not be attained on cases of drunk driving and texting while driving. A drunk driver is likely to respond to minor problems in haste leading to road accidents. At some point, the message being delivered may be extremely touching and it may shock the driver making him or her respond irresponsibly to a minor problem and he or she will automatically cause an accident. Therefore, in one way, or the other texting and drunk driving may affect the soberness of the driver leading to accidents. Campaign for sober mind amongst drivers should be insisted through extensive sensitization of the negative effects of texting and drunk driving (Cook and Randall 548).
It is compulsory for all drivers to be aware of the road signs raised in different roads. Road signs govern the behavior of human beings on roads. There are various classes of road signs that drivers must be well aware of as they navigate around. There are prohibitory, warning and informative signs on roadsides and they should be respected by every individual who uses the roads. It is impossible for drunk and texting drivers to be aware of the signs on the road. Drunk drivers may have their eyesight affected by alcohol and may not have a clear view. This means that they may not see or read the signs. On the other hand, texting drivers may not as well observe road signs. Following concentration on their phones they may not see the signs. This may create confusion in the roads as other people may be out to use the road as directed by the signs. Confusion for drivers on the road over road signs would lead to accidents (Lerner 3). Observance of road signs should be compulsory among drivers to avoid confusion on roads.
Roads are usually demarcated to show directions to drivers. However, the driver must be well aware of the direction that he or she intends to take in order to reach his destination. This means that the driver must be extremely keen on mastery of the direction that he or she is supposed to follow. However, this is not possible if the driver is drunk or concentrates on texting over his or her phone (Neiger 1). If there are entries or turns to be made by the driver, it is extremely easy for the driver not to identify them. This will lead them to the wrong direction, which is extremely expensive for them. They would consume a lot of fuel as they navigate their way back to the right direction. Soberness would have saved them a lot of money as they would have been able to identify necessary turning and entry points to their destination as planned (Lerner 3).
At some instances, drivers use hand signs as they drive in the bid to eliminate confusions that may lead to road accidents. They usually engage in extremely random talks that may only be captured by sober or keen individuals. For a drunk driver it will be extremely difficult to make them understand what another driver may be indicating to them (Lerner 2). This means they will end up creating confusion on the roads, which is a major platform for road accidents that are being witnessed on roads from time to time. For texting drivers, they will not be able to see and interpret the hand signs of the other driver as they are carried away by texting (Cook and Randall 547). Ignorance or the inability to listen to what the other driver tries to say would automatically lead to an accident.
The alarming levels of road accidents resulting from drunk driving and texting while driving continue to grow with time. Therefore, there is exclusive need for governments to invest in campaigns against drunk driving and texting while driving. There are extremely many factors that have contributed to the exclusively high number of accidents in the world. It is always advisable for drivers to concentrate on roads, which may only be defined through soberness of the driver. Careless driving would be minimized if individuals learnt the need for sober driving, as well as avoiding distractions that may result from use of phones while driving.
Works Cited
Cook, Jerry , and Randall Jones. "Texting and accessing the web while driving: traffic citations and crashes among young adult drivers.." Traffic Injury Prevention 12.6 (2011): 545-549. Print. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15389588.2011.620999
Lerner, Barron . "The New England Journal of Medicine." Drunk Driving, Distracted Driving, Moralism, and Public Health — NEJM. N.p., 8 Sept. 2011. Web. 5 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1106640>.
Neiger, Christopher . "Is texting while driving really worse than drunk driving?."HowStuffWorks. N.p., 12 Apr. 2009. Web. 5 Mar. 2014. <http://auto.howstuffworks.com/texting-while-driving-worse-than-drunk-driving1.htm>.
