A Deadly Mix

Tamara Slijepcevic

Helen Duclos

Comp 2 Web

17 February 2013

A Deadly Mix

Everyone does it, or at least everyone is tempted to at some point in time. Have you ever picked up your phone and sent a quick text message while driving? It may seem harmless enough but distracted drivers cause 6,000 deaths and a half a million injuries every year.  But a shocking 60% of teenagers still text while driving in the United States. I was shocked to find that in the United States of America, supposedly the greatest country in the world, a simple rule such as not texting while driving is not imposed throughout the country.

     There is a lot of media surrounding the issue of drinking while driving. The majority of people think it is wrong and very dangerous; there is even a law in place to prevent people from doing it. But consider this, In 2003 a study held by the U.S University of Utah’s psychology department measured the response time of someone with a blood alcohol level of 0.08% and someone involved in a cell phone conversation. The results showed that of the 120 participants involved, two people were involved in an accident in standard conditions, whereas ten people were involved in an accident while on their cell phone. Surprisingly enough no people were involved in a crash while intoxicated. Concluding that cell phone drivers exhibited greater impairment than intoxicated drivers (Strayer, Drews, and Crouch). This really highlights how dangerous it is to use your cell phone while driving.

     Where I’m from, in Serbia, using your cell phone while driving is prohibited nation wide. In fact it is prohibited in 50 countries around the world. Many other countries have realized and dealt with the risks of using your phone while driving, it is puzzling why the whole of America has not followed. Market research done by a company selling a voice-based alternative to texting, called Pinger, reported that 89% of U.S. adults think that text messaging while driving is "distracting, dangerous and should be outlawed”(Wilson). With the majority of the population, agreeing that the law should be heavily enforced throughout the United States why is nothing being done about this important issue affecting our everyday lives?

      In 2004, The University of Utah simulation study compared talking to a passenger and having a cell-phone conversation. It concluded that the driver performs better when conversing with a passenger because the traffic and driving task become part of the conversation. Drivers having conversations on cell phones were four times more likely to miss the highway exit than those with passengers (Drews, Monisha, and Strayer). When you are having a cell phone conversation your mind is somewhere else. It is not on the job at hand, a job that requires full attention and concentration. If not done with this care it can result in serious injuries or death.  In his article discussing the deaths resulting from texting, Hanowski attributed approximately 2,000 teen deaths to texting while driving in 2009 (Hanowski). This is a very large number of innocent teenagers who are dying with a full life ahead of them and of a very preventable cause.