The
texting and driving epidemic has become more of a headlined media story since
the invention of the smartphone.
However, it would be wrong to assume that texting and driving is
something that was started by the smartphone alone. While the physical act of texting and driving
was started by the smartphone, the human desire for invention and ease of use
was started by the invention of the phone.
The first phone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gay in
1870 (Morris, Jason). Ever since people
started to use the telephone in their houses they began to dream of a phone
that they could take anywhere and use anytime.
Thus the dream to make a phone that was so easy to use and small that
you could have it on you at all times.
After many years of evolution, Motorola came out with the “DynaTAC
8000x” in 1973. This new phone gave people the freedom that they wanted (Ray,
Amanda). People could now talk to others
while they were on the move, whether that be in there car or walking wherever
and whenever. Through this new mobile
phone, the start of upgrading the phone to be so easy to use that you could do
it with one hand. With this in mind,
people began to dream of phones that could do anything they wanted them to
do. With the invention of the smartphone
in 1992, the dream became real (Morris, Jason)
As soon as the first one, people were using them all the time. And
as smartphones became more available, more and more people were using
them while they were driving. In today's
world, where everyone has a smartphone, people have fallen into the belief that
to let people know that you care you must respond immediately. Through this incessant need to please
everyone by disappointing no one, people have started to lose their respect for
life itself. They have begun to throw
caution to the wind and use their phones while driving to try and please the
people they interact with on a daily basis.
The
Texting and Driving epidemic has affected not just Texas, but the entire United
States, and the world. The effect that
texting and driving have on the world's population is remarkable. It leaves
parents without children, it leaves children without parents, and families are
broken forever. In the United States
alone nine people are killed and over 1,000 people injured every day (the
dangers of distracted driving). Across
the United States, 660,000 people admit to using their phones while operating a
motor vehicle (the dangers of distracted driving). This puts everyone that is on the road at
risk because some people don’t realize the danger that they are putting the
people around them in. If one person is
texting while driving it puts everyone on the road at risk. This social injustice leaves people on the
roadways to continually drive nervously because they do not know if the person
next to them is watching the road or there phone. This lack of care that people have for the
people around them has caused numerous laws to try to persuade people to not
use their phones while driving. In
Texas, one of the new laws that was passed recently prohibits people from
reading, writing, or sending electronic messages while people are operating a
motor vehicle (Texas Department of Transportation). Despite this new law, numerous drivers across
the entire state will continue to use electronic devices while they drive. Some countries have gone for more laws than
just using the phone. Portugal, for example,
has banned the use of any type of cellular device or hands-free calling while
in the car, even Bluetooth devices (Distracted Driving Global Fact Sheet). Even though there are consequences in place
for people that use their phones while driving, there will most likely never be
a cure for this epidemic. The effects of
this will continue to devastate our nation as long as cars are still controlled
by humans. Until we have cars that can
truly drive themselves, there will always be a problem with people using their
phones while at the wheel.
Texting
and driving have been a black mark in our history taking the lives of the
people we love and care about every day.
The Texas Department of Transportation has reported that 19% of all
crashes in 2017 were due to distracted driving (Texas Department of
Transportation). Distracted continue
driving is an epidemic that has plagued the world since the invention of the
first smartphone, and will plague us until humans no longer have to drive. There have been numerous incidents of
distracted driving causing deaths in Texas and around the world. One of the most recent and heartbreaking
incidents happened just this past weekend as a Huntsville mom, her three
children, and a close family friend were struck by a distracted driver over the
weekend (Champion, Steve). The incident
killed the three children and the family friend (1). The mom survived but is still in intensive
care at the hospital (1). The crash
happened in Bastrop as a 2004 Ford F-150 slammed into the back of the family’s
2019 Toyota Corolla (1). The driver of
the Truck was just 18 years old and was texting at the time he hit the family
in their car (1). Video footage shows that
the family was slowing down to make a turn and the truck plowed into the back
of their small car causing the death of 4 teenagers (1). Another example of the dangers of distracted
driving comes from 2016 when four teenage girls were traveling back to Houston
from South Padre Island after spring break (Sadlinger, Tobias). Reports say that the driver of the car looked
at their phone to check the GPS as they were approaching Corpus Christi on
Texas Highway 77 (1). It is understood
that the car the girls was in veered off the freeway and into an oncoming Semi
truck (1). The accident killed three of
the four girls with the forth critically injured but stable (1). These two examples show that distracted
driving can kill others and yourself.
Making it a practice that will never be safe and is always an extremely
controversial decision that people participate in every day regardless of the
risks that are involved.
Texting and driving is
an epidemic that has affected the world since the invention of the
smartphone. It is a problem that has
clear solutions; the only problem is that they are so simple no one wants to do
them. This epidemic is a problem that no
matter what regulations that the government puts in place it will never
disappear. Texting and driving will
always be and has always been a personal problem that cannot be changed by
anything the government does. It is a
problem that can only be fixed from within one's own mind not by any outside
force making decisions. We are
responsible for our own actions, and we are the only ones that can change the
way that we are acting, no one can make those decisions for us.
The
first solution that we can choose to help limit the amount that we text and
drive is to leave our phones put up while we are driving. (The
Top 5 Solutions for Texting and Driving) This
could include a number of things including putting our phones backwards in a
cup holder so that we cannot see it when we have received a text. Putting the phone in the cup holder is an
easy way to help protect us from the dangers of texting and driving, but it is
not the only way that we can. There are
numerous ways that we can protect our families from the temptation of texting
and driving. On the topic of putting the
phone away a more difficult spot would be in the center console so that it is
out of sight and out of mind. If we
cannot see or hear the phone there is no chance that we will have the
temptation of using it while we are driving.
Another
way that we can protect ourselves from the dangers of texting and driving is
using aids to help prevent us from looking down at our phones while we are
driving (The Top 5 Solutions for Texting and
Driving). The first way to do
this would be to use a passenger by simply letting him or her text while
focusing on the road ahead (1). The passenger can text while the eyes of the driver
stays focused on the road, protecting not only themselves but also the people
around them as well. The second way
would be using and voice texting through the car or just on the phone (1). This would allow the driver to stay focused
on the road, while still pleasing the internal need to always be connected to
their phone. The use of voice texting is
quickly becoming a more popular way of communication through new advances in
the phones and in the car’s ability to connect to phones. In today’s world, cars have the ability to
read a text out loud when it comes in so you do not even have to touch your
phone to see what people have sent you.
To respond to the text the car will listen to you and type what you say
leaving you with a satisfied soul and a focused mind.
Texting and driving
has become such an enormous problem that people have started to take pledges,
as well as wearing reminders on their body to remind them not text and drive (The
Top 5 Solutions for Texting and Driving). This
approach to the texting and driving epidemic has helped people hold their
friends accountable for using their phones while driving. This could help people to stop by making them
think about what their friends will say if the find out they broke the
pledge. Also, wearing reminders on your
body will help you as a visual aid when you are thinking about using your phone
while at the wheel of your car. Theses
reminders could range from a simple X to an actual thumb band. Any type of reminder that will help prevent
people from using their phones while they are driving is a good reminder, no
matter how elaborate or simple. There is
no wrong way to protect against the dangerous that come from using a cellular
device while you are operating a vehicle.
The finale way that parents can prevent their
teens from texting and driving is to lead by example and punish their teens
when they use the phone while they are driving (Ways
to Avoid Texting While Driving.). The
best way to teach teens how to drive safely is to practice safe driving
techniques while we are driving. Teens
see everything that their parents do in the car, and if their mom or dad is
using their phone while driving more than likely the teen will think that it is
ok to use their phone as well. Why, should teens be expected not to do
something that their parents are doing.
If it is ok for adults than why not children, that is why parents need
to lose their self and worry about what they are putting into their teens minds
when they are driving and teaching them how to drive.
Albert
Camus was a well now novelist and playwright that believed “the human quest to
find meaning in the world was absurd” (Maguire).
The idea that life has no meaning is extremely intring, this idea that
there is no meaning to life is exactly what every body that uses their phone
while at the wheel is saying to everyone around them. Albert Camus stated that “The absurd hero
takes no refuge in the illusions of art or religion. Yet neither does he
despair in the face of absurdity—he doesn't just pack it all in. Instead, he
openly embraces the absurdity of his condition.” (1) Humans are “openly
embracing the absurdity of our condition” every time that we use our phones
while at the wheel (1). The fact that we
use our phones while driving is not absurd, it is the fact that we use them
while we know exactly what danger we our putting ourselves in when we use our
phones. There is no explanation to why
we do what we do. Humans are a creature
that does absurd things even after being told how dangerous they are.
Texting and driving is an epidemic
that kills all the time, and the dangers associated with this epidemic has yet
to receive the respect that is needed.
The human race has all the resources to put a stop to the use of phones
while driving, but none of the will power that is required to actually put a
stop to it. There is no foreseeable end
in sight, for this terrible epidemic that has plagued us for so long. The only way to fight it, make people aware
of the dangers that are results of the use of our phones while we are
driving. Other than pure hope, nothing
is ever going to stop humans from using their phones while at the wheel.
Work Cited
Campion, Steve, and
Ktrk. "Catastrophic crash kills 4 teens, including 3 siblings." ABC13
Houston.
01 Apr. 2019. 03 Apr. 2019 <https://abc13.com/catastrophic-crash-kills-4-teens-including-3-siblings/5229256/>.
"Distracting
Driving Global Fact Sheets." USDautoblog. United States Department of
transportation. <https://usdotblog.typepad.com/files/6983_distracteddrivingfs_5-17_v2.pdf>.
Maguire, Laura. “Camus
and Absurdity.” Philosophy Talk, 27
Feb. 2015,
Morris, Jason.
"History of the Telephone." National ITPA. 03 Apr. 2019
Ray, Amanda. "The
History and Evolution of Cell Phones." The History and Evolution of Cell
Phones.
22 Jan. 2015. 03 Apr. 2019
Salinger, Tobias.
"Three Houston teens driving home from spring break killed in distracted
driving
crash
in South Texas ." Nydailynews.com. 09 Apr. 2018. New York Daily News. 03
Apr.
2019
Texas Department of
Transportation. "New Statewide Law Prohibits Drivers from texting while
driving."
New Statewide Law Prohibits Drivers from Texting While Driving. 03 Apr. 2019
Texas Department of
Transportation. "Text, Talk, Crash." Talk, Text, Crash. 03 Apr. 2019
"The Dangers of
Distracted Driving." Federal Communications Commission. 29 Mar. 2019. 03
"The Top 5
Solutions for Texting and Driving." TextNinja. 01 Feb. 2019. 23 Apr. 2019
“Ways to Avoid Texting
While Driving.” Auto-Related News,
Trends, & Tips - I Drive Safely,
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