E.+Persuasive+Research+Essay

Kaleigh Foley January 19, 2011 English 11 2A

Texting “hey”. Ding. Reply “sup?” Ding. Reply “nm just drvng 2 get sister from skool”. Ding. Reply “so tru. U wanna chill l8r?” Ding. Reply “how about 430ish?” Ding. The driver goes to look at her phone. CRASH! Since her eyes were off the road, she crashed into another car. “The accident site,” the first responding officer said, “was the worse one I have seen so far in my 20 years of being a police officer”. The accident site was indeed bad; the driver’s brand new sports car was all banged up. The inside was worse than the outside, the driver had hit her head on the steering wheel, and she had a lot of cuts and had broken her nose. There was blood and brain matter all over the drivers’ and the front passengers’ seat. The driver had a GPS on her dashboard and when she hit her head on the GPS, her skull fractured and the skin broke. The Medical Examiner said that she was killed instantly. This imagined accident happens too way often. This is why texting while driving should be illegal because one might get into an accident, one should have complete focus on the road, and one might not realize there are some bad road conditions.

One might get into an accident while texting. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2009 nationwide survey, the hand-held cell phone use rate in 2009 translates into 672,000 vehicles being driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone at any given moment during daylight hours. It also reports an estimated 9 percent of all vehicles had drivers who were using some type of phone (hand-held or hands-free). Females use texting while driving more than males. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that in crashes where people were injured, four times as many drivers were using hand-held devices.

One should have complete focus on the road because one might start to swerve when one is looking at their phone. If they start to swerve into another lane and another vehicle might be coming from the other direction. It could be an ugly situation. The driver needs to have complete focus on the road and not on the cell phone. The NHTSA states that there are three main types of distractions: · Visual — taking your eyes off the road · Manual — taking your hands off the wheel · Cognitive — taking your mind off what you’re doing Texting involves all three of these distractions. One cannot drive safely when it is the fourth thing on the list.

People who are distracted and driving at the same time die. According to Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and National Automotive Sampling reports that: · In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction (16% of total fatalities). · The portion of drivers reportedly distracted at the time of the fatal crashes increased from 7 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2009. · An estimated 20 percent of 1,517,000 injury crashes were reported to have involved distracted driving in 2009.

The roads could be icy and the driver might not realize that they are icy. They could start to fishtail and spin out of control. They could crash into another car, into the median, into the guardrail, or into a pedestrian. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) did a study that showed that when traveling at 55 mph, a driver texting for 6 seconds is looking at the phone for 4.6 seconds of that time and travels the distance of a football field without their eyes on the road. How can a driver react to a bad road condition, when he is not even looking at the road? He cannot react in time.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">In many states, Driving While Texting or DWT is already illegal. All statistics show that many crashes involve DWT. Why is it not illegal in all the states? According to South Florida Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff (R-Fort Lauderdale) "There are a number of things people do in their car that is distracting," she said. "The question is how do we treat these distractions?" Why have a law, when people should know to use their common sense and keep their eyes on the road.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Texting while driving should be illegal because one might get into an accident, one should have complete focus on the road, and one might not realize there are some bad road conditions. One should pay for the damages they caused when they were texting while driving. So, write to your senator and stress the importance of having tough laws against texting while driving. Also, one should not text and drive at all! One will not be a good role model for the younger generations. One should take an oath and sign a petition, as well. To do so, go to [].

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Garcia-Roberts, Gus. "Texting While Driving Remains Perfectly Legal in Florida - Miami News - Riptide 2.0." The Miami New Times' Blogs. N.p., 26 Apr. 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> "Driving Distracted | Stats and Facts | Driving and Texting." //Distracted Driving | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | Distraction.gov//. U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. < [] >.