Distracted Driving Epidemic by Magaly Chavarria

Picture yourself leaving work, to get home to your loving wife and children. You get in your vehicle, place your phone on the console, and start the ignition. You have a 35-minute drive to get home, so you turn up the radio and start to sing along to some classic oldies. You are on the highway going at 65 miles per hour, and your phone goes off notifying you that you have a message. You look at your phone debating whether it's worth picking up, but you ignore it and keep on driving. You speed up a little and turn up the radio a little more. Your phone begins to ring, and you look down to turn the radio down and you go unconscious. You open your eyes and see that you had hit a dark blue SUV with a baby on board sticker, you hear crying and feel blood coming down you face. Attempting to step out the car, you feel your body aching in pain. Everything is spinning around you; you can feel your heart beat faster and faster. As you get closer, you could hear crying and begin to run towards the car. You look inside and spot a baby car seat and try to open the door, but its locked. However, you open the driver's door and notice a lifeless young woman. You heart drops knowing that you had left the child with no mother figure. Everyday a life is affected by distracted driving, “391,000 Number of people injured by distracted driving in 2015” (“U Drive. U Text. U Pay.”), this is not including accidents outside of distracted driving. Distracted driving can cause harm, injury, and even death: “Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, fiddling with the stereo, entertainment or navigation system—anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving (“U Drive. U Text. U Pay.”). We all have some type of distraction while driving and it's not always the new technology. Have you ever looked back to keep you children calm and completely forget that you are on the road? Getting distracted while driving can be very easy, but how many lives are we willing to risk to finally understand that when driving you need your full attention to keep others and yourself safe.

History

Distracted driving has been around since the first automobile had been invented. “The notion of distracted driving goes as far back as the invention of the automobile itself” (“From the 1960s to Now: A History of Distracted Driving.”). Distracted driving doesn’t have to be all about cellphones, radios and other technology, nor having others in the vehicle distracting them. Although we might not know, distracted driving was studied back in the day. It started off with a task given to a scientist John Senders, “The Bureau of Public Roads (now the Federal Highway Administration) tasked him with investigating how much time a driver had to spend looking at the roads to drive effectively” (1). In an article “From the 1960s to now: A history of distracted driving” it stated, “In 1963, scientist John Senders investigated how much time a driver had to spend looking at the roads to drive effectively” (1). Senders wrote in a report, “staring at the road ahead, but not actually seeing it. Senders noted a plethora of distractions tugging at drivers’ focus, including the rearview mirror, conversing with a passenger and checking out landmarks” (1). As our technology keeps improving, it gets more complicated to control this distracted driving epidemic.

 Cellular telephones were introduced in 1983. By 1997, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) reported that there were more than 50 million cellular customers in the U.S (1).  That same year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched one of the first intensive studies into the effects of wireless phones on driving (1). Among those surveyed, nine out of 10 cellular telephone owners reported using them while driving (1). This study also surveyed the effects of driving and using a cellphone (inability to maintain speed, lane drifting and weaving).  The study highlighted comments by police officers, who were seeing an increased amount of odd behavior on the roads in conjunction with cellphone usage. According to AT&T, today more than 90 percent of people say they know the dangers of texting and driving, yet many still find ways to rationalize their behavior (1). The states and law enforcement began to act, “On April 15, 2010, the Commonwealth House Bill 415 was signed into law, banning texting for drivers of all ages while a vehicle is in motion” (1). Although we are given the facts and research of how distracted driving can be dangerous, we keep on doing it. In today's modern time, “In a society of increasingly unlimited availability, it’s obvious that this problem isn’t going away anytime soon” (1).

Social Effects

Driving can become dangerous very quickly. In a split of a second you could be in a terrible accident. In the article “Consequences of distracted driving” it stated; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 2013, 3,154 people were killed. Additionally, 424,000 people were injured in crashes involving distracted drivers. This resulted in 8 people dying every day in the United States because of distracted driving and 1,161 people being injured in reported crashes each day (“Consequences of distracted driving”). This is just statistics in the United States, but distracted driving is a worldwide problem.

Distracted driving doesn’t just bring death and injuries, but it can also cause financial losses. As Araujo stated; “If the statistics above are not enough to convince you that this is a serious problem, consider who pays the costs of all these injuries, property damages, and deaths” (Araujo). Besides the horrific losses to family members and people directly impacted in the accidents caused by distracted driving related accidents, the financial losses involved are significant. Consider who pays the claims and financial compensation for these losses: the general public and the insurance companies (1).

Solutions

Distracted driving has been around since the first automobile created and yet we have not found any solutions to end distracted driving epidemic. Many lives are lost every day due to distracted driving. According to centers and disease control and prevention,” Each day in the United States, approximately 9 people are killed and more than 1,000 injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver” (“Distracted Driving | Motor Vehicle Safety | CDC Injury Center.”). This is just showing statistics in the United States that have been reported, imagine the rest of the world's statistics put together.

It's crazy to think that even then people don’t take into consideration that they can put others in danger due to them being distracted in a split of second. If you think about yourself and what you are doing or thinking at the moment you will notice that most of the time you weren't thinking about what was on the road. You were probably thinking about what plans you had for later that day or what you were going to have for lunch. Even though we are all aware that this is a huge problem, adults and teens are told to focus on the road and the rest can wait. You would think that with tragedies happening it would open their eyes and see that distracted driving is dangerous and can become deadly, very fast. 

The point is that it is hard enough for someone to put their full attention on the road till they get to their destination. According to the article “Brain Science: Focus–Can You Pay Attention?”, “Current researchers argue that the average attention span of American adults has dropped, and it is limited to 20, 10, or even five minutes. If this is true, the numbers are troubling since we clearly need more bandwidth to provide them with important information” (Kohn). If we know we can't fully put our attention on the road when driving, then why do something else while driving that can make it more difficult to concentrate on the road.

Many solutions and campaigns have been created to stop or at least decrease the accidents caused by distracted driving and make the roads safer. However, the efforts have not been successful in decreasing the rate of incidents but has increased the awareness of distracted driving. Like Darrow stated, “U.S. fatalities from traffic accidents rose 7.2% last year to 35,092—the largest increase in 50 years—and distracted driving played a role in 10% of those deaths, according National Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures released last month. NHTSA found that fatalities from “distraction-affected” crashes increased 8.8% to 3,477 from 3,197 for that period” (Darrow). As we can see by the statistics giving there might be many solutions given but the number seem to keep increasing.

For example, one of the solutions to decrease distracted driving is to install advance technology in cars to help when your head is somewhere else. Technology is improving every day and finding better ways to make life easier and safer. Consumer reports stated; New high-tech safety features are helping drivers who have lapses in attention. These features warn them or intervene to head off potentially dangerous situations. Respondents in CR’s recent Advanced Auto Safety Systems survey also reported that the systems have helped them (Consumer Reports). This not only gives us a better way to be safer on the road, but also give us the chance to pick up the phone and take your eyes of the road for a few seconds. Although it was meant to refrain us from keeping us away from using our devices it can do the opposite. Technology is not only advancing is automobiles but also in cellular devices. In the article “Technology That Can Reduce Driving Distractions and Their Dangers” they state; This latest operating system includes a Do Not Disturb While Driving mode (DND) that can block notification of incoming calls and texts when your iPhone senses driving motion or is connected to a car via Bluetooth. The DND feature can automatically send a text reply that says you’re driving and will reply later. Phone calls are allowed if the iPhone is connected via Bluetooth. (1) There are many apps that can also be downloaded to keep you from grabbing your phone to check what your notifications are about, but this can also cause more harm other than help.

The government and states have also got involved by installing laws to refrain from texting while driving. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented, “Many states are enacting laws—such as banning texting while driving, or using graduated driver licensing systems for teen drivers—to help raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving and to help prevent it from occurring” (“Distracted Driving | Motor Vehicle Safety | CDC Injury Center.”). However, “the effectiveness of cell phone and texting laws on decreasing distracted driving-related crashes requires further study. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety keeps track of distracted driving laws” (1). Although, the government gets involved by putting down laws, it can’t really make a big impact on decreasing the rate of distracted driving crashes daily. Take speeding for example, there might be laws stating that its illegal and get a fine. However, people get numerous tickets and warnings to keep them from doing it but doesn’t mean that they will stop.

Camus and Absurdity

As stated in “Dictionary.com” absurdity is, “utterly or obviously senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense; laughably foolish or false” (“Absurd”). Albert Camus, an author, “considered the Absurd to be a fundamental and even defining characteristic of the modern human condition” (Simpson). Absurdism can relate to Distracted driving epidemic due to the fact of the crazy number of people that are lost due to this epidemic when it can be easily prevented from happening. Distracted driving is not a disease that needs a cure or something that can be fixed. Distracted driving is more of making the choice to not be ignorant and not putting others in danger. We as humans play a big role by making these choices and wanting to fix them. Camus would be disappointed by the fact that it can be easily prevented from happening and it's our choice to make.

Conclusion

Distracted driving can be anything from talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, or messing with the stereo/ navigation system that can take away your attention from driving safe. Getting distracted while driving can be very easy, but how many lives are we willing to risk to finally understand that when driving you need to have your full attention to keep others and yourself safe. There have been laws put down to decrease the amount of accident having to do with distracted driving and that didn’t make much of a difference. Technology was also got involved to improve and make the roads safer but could also become harmful to the situation. There have been many solutions to prevent this epic from happening, but nothing has been working to keep it from happening. This is on you and yourself only. You choose to pick up the phone, mess with the radio and navigation system, and let yourself easily get distracted. So why don’t we just choose to keep our attention to the road? How many more lives are willing to risk for stopping this absurd epidemic from happening?

Works Cited

·         “Absurd.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/absurd.

           Araujo, Mila. “The Largest Cause of Teen Crashes and What You Need to Know About It.” The Balance, www.thebalance.com/distracted-driving-teens-2645865.

·         “Consequences of Distracted Driving.” Hg.org, www.hg.org/legal-articles/consequences-of-distracted-driving-35259.

·         Consumer Reports. “Technology That Can Reduce Driving Distractions and Their Dangers.” Consumer Reports, www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/technology-that-can-reduce-driving-distractions-dangers-car-safety-features/.

·         Darrow, Barb. “Distracted Driving Is Now an Epidemic in the U.S.” Fortune, fortune.com/2016/09/14/distracted-driving-epidemic/.

·         “Distracted Driving | Motor Vehicle Safety | CDC Injury Center.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/index.html.

·         “From the 1960s to Now: a History of Distracted Driving.” Kentucky Farm Bureau, www.kyfb.com/insurance/lifes-blueprints/from-the-1960s-to-now-a-history-of-distracted-driving/.

·         Kohn, Art. “Brain Science: Focus–Can You Pay Attention?” Learning Solutions Magazine, www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/1440/brain-science-focuscan-you-pay-attention.

·         Simpson, David. “Albert Camus (1913—1960).” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/camus/.

·         “Texting and Driving Accident Statistics - Distracted Driving.” Edgarsnyder.com, Edgar Snyder & Associates, www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cause-of-accident/cell-phone/cell-phone-statistics.html.

·         “U Drive. U Text. U Pay.” NHTSA, NHTSA, 20 Dec. 2018, www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving. “Absurd.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/absurd.