Texting while driving has been raising new concerns in recent years. However, no one seems to be abiding by these anti-texting laws, which prevent drivers from being distracted on the roadways.  This may cause possible accidents, making the roadways unsafe.This can lead to very fatal accidents,not only affecting your life, but also the life of the one you endangered, and their families as well. I would like to propose that the United States creates news that prevent these distracted drivers from using their phones while commuting.  

        Within this decade more and more people have access to a cell phone. This has become a common concern for the National Highway Safety Association. “ In June 2008, about 260 million people in the United States had mobile (“cell”) telephone subscriptions, an increase of nearly 115 million during 5 years”(Cellular telecommunications and internet Association, 2008).

        Furthermore, the first motive was to start passing laws. In 2007 that’s exactly what happened. “Washington State introduced the first ban in 2007; 37 States and the District of Columbia have such bans now.”(USA today,4). Basically, today there is different laws on texting while driving, meaning that the government as a whole has not stepped forward to pass one for the whole country.  “The Governors Highway Safety Association(GHSA) puts cell phone restriction into three broad categories:(i) handheld cellphone use by all drivers,(ii) all cell phone use ( handheld and hands free )by young drivers or learner's permit holders and school bus drivers, and (iii) text messaging ban for all driver.”(Lim and Chi,198)

These laws have inspired a huge deal of debate because each state has  different policies and some tend to work better than others. The main goal is for the reduction of crashes and distracted driving in the United States. This is very important because texting and driving needs to come to a halt and people are still doing it. So, in the end, the government needs to take a stand and push for what works best . For example,  “The Highway Loss Data Institute ( HLDI) reported no significant reductions in collisions claims after handheld cellphones and texting laws became effective in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Washington.” (Lim and Chi,198). This shows that improvement with these state laws are in dire need. 

           Crashes have seemed to increase with drivers being more and more distracted. This is why the efforts of law enforcement are focused on  trying to push laws and crack down on texting and driving. Even more troubling is that teenagers seem to think they’re invincible against this epidemic. Teenagers these days have become very reckless and especially with them being new on the road they need to straighten up. “They have the highest portion of distracted drivers in a fatal accidents involving teenagers, 16% were reported to be distracted while driving.” (Saqer,visser, Strohl, Parasuraman,199). According to the statistics teenagers are on the rise of being distracted. There is a direct correlation between teenagers and texting and driving. Yet they are not the only ones that are being outlaws “according to the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2009 1 in 5 injury crashes in the United States involved distracted driving.” (Saqer,visser, Strohl, Parasuraman 197). Through this decade there has been a lot  of commercials and seminars that gear towards teens. Schools have also taken action in getting the point across about the negatives of texting and driving.  For example “to educate young(unlicensed or inexperienced) drivers on the dangers of distracted driving a group of graduate students from George Mason University.” (Fairfax,Va,USA), set up a demonstration that was part of the first annual U.S.A. Science and Engineering festival. The festival, meant to highlight science careers, was attended by 500,000 parents and children.” (Saqer,visser, Strohl, Parasuraman,5879 ).This is just one of the few examples of individuals and groups that set out to make a difference and educate our people in the United States.

        This  leads us to our next discussion of how laws in The United States compare to other countries.  First off,  it seems as if other countries are fully on board with pretending their road wages with no tolerance of this epidemic. It was stated that most “European Union's countries ban handheld and hands-free phone use while driving.” (Lim and Chi,198). The federal government in the United States seems to be content about its position on cell phone use and driving. I say this because the United States as a whole has not decided what laws should be implemented, which is what lead individual state legislatures to decide for themselves. There has been debate about which laws work best and which ones do not. According to this article. “ In 2012, 31 states have all cellphone use restrictions for teens driver and learners, and 37 States prohibit all drivers from texting.” (Lim and Chi,199). This leads me into my next point of weather these laws are truly making a difference because according to the “Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) reported no significant reductions in collisions claims after handheld cellphone and texting laws became effective in California, Louisiana , Minnesota, and Washington.” ( Lim and Chi)

        Focusing on California “ The University of California, Berkeley found that the states cellphone ban led to a reduction in traffic fatalities and Injuries, owing to decreased cell phone use by drivers. This examined traffic crashes in California 2 years before and 2 years after the law became effective in 2008.” (Lim and chi,197 ).  This shows that there is direct correlation of fatal injuries and accidents to texting and driving, which is why more people need to be informed about it.

        Accidents involving texting and driving have had a major Impact on fatality rates and accidents in the United States. “ According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2009 1 in 5 Injury crashes in the Unites States involved distracted driving.” (Vager, Visser, Strohl, Parasuram, 5887 ).  This is a huge deal because people know what they are doing and have said they know, yet, according to this statement, they continue to do so. Drivers everyday fall into the trap of texting and driving , “ 1 in 4 Americans adults have either sent or read a text while driving and that young adults are as striking as teens to text while driving.” (Cook and Jones, 545).  This epidemic does not start here though, teens are at major fault for these crash statistics and they have gotten out of control. This is one major reason why states are gearing laws towards teens is to protect  inexperienced drivers, and push them to focus on making roads a safer place. Driving safety is a huge deal because millions of families drive and we need to make sure they are safe day in and day out. This is a major reason we focus on teens, primarily because it’s stated that,  “Motor vehicle (MV) crashes are the leading cause of death among U.S adolescents aged 16 to 19. Per mile driven, adolescents aged 16 to 19 years are nearly 3 times as likely to be involved in a fatal crash as drivers aged 20 years or older.” (Lim and Chi ,158).  Even more troubling is the fact that “teenagers have the highest proportion of distracted drivers and in fatal accidents involving teenagers, 16 percent were reported to be distracted while driving .(aqer,visser, Strohl, Parasuraman,5877)

        Considering these laws are being passed to improve safety for you, you might wonder how exactly they are being acted on. Enforcement?That’s a great question,that is one huge problem today. Officers are having trouble providing enough proof for citations and pullovers. First off,  “Majority of states have made texting while driving a primary offense resulting in a ticket.” (Harding,2). The difference of these two offenses are as follows; “A peace officer shall not stop or detain a person solely for a suspected violation of this section. This section is enforceable by a peace officer only as a secondary action when the driver of a motor vehicle has been stopped or detained for a suspected violation of another provision of this chapter, a local ordinance equivalent to a provision of this chapter, or other law.(Lim and Chi,197)

        With laws being passed many companies and agencies are jumping on board to help push a stop to texting and driving.Therefore in “December 2011 , The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) because the first Federal agency  to recommend nationwide prohibition on cell phone use while driving.”(Harding,15). This is leading companies and programs to address this problem to protect themselves . They are doing this in ways as Drivesmart (T-mobile), Drive First(Sprint), and Drive Mode(At&t). All can be similarly activated to prevent phones from being operated while in a moving automobile. With technological advances as these apps, they help aid the stop of texting while driving. These apps are here to show that even phone companies are behind the pledge to make roads a safer place. They are showing that people need to be smart about their actions while on the roads.

                  In conclusion, realizing how texting and driving has raised a great deal of attention in recent years. From rising accident statistics, to phone companies making pledges as in “It Can Wait “ (At&T).  However, no one seems to truly do much about it. I  propose we stop this act of texting while driving, and take the pledge that it can wait. Just put down the phones, get to your location and then continue the conversation. This will not only help make our roads a safer place but truly save lives in the end. I do agree that we do need to press for laws to prevent these distracted drivers from engaging in this frowned upon event. So stated that in  “January 2013, 39 states all banned texting while driving.” (Harding,2) . So with that being said, lets push that number and make a goal for 2014 to have a national law to ban texting while driving.

Literature Review Reflection

Sean Metcalf

ENC 1102 0004

March 26, 2014

Clayton Benjamin

Overall this lit review was very unfamiliar to me as a writer . I came across having problems with this writing assignment .However, I tried my best to use pre-writing to enhance my writings. I used pre-writing activities to help me prepare for this assignment. First, would be the written rhetoric worksheets we did every week. This helped me summarize all my articles, and give me a good idea of information I could incorporate into my paper. Another exercise I took advantage of was writing rough drafts. In the end I wrote one hard copy, and typed a rough draft as well as a final and improved each time. Overall, there was some things I discovered while writing my lit review . One would have to be the facts in general. These facts helped me gain a great amount of knowledge on how to make our roadways safer. Also they informed me on current laws being pushed to stop texting while driving. Next, the feedback I received from my in class peers and from professor did help me write a better paper . One they helped me better understand how to integrate my citations and reword my writing to better flow to the reader. With not having much experience on writing research papers I truly had to  pay attention. I took in a lot of information to better understand my mistakes. I believe that the audience of my lit review would be the average American with a car and a phone. I say this because the Lit review I wrote included a lot of persuasive facts on deaths, accidents, and new laws being passed on texting while driving .

Furthermore , I did utilize multiple friends to review my paper. They helped me by providing honest comments to better organize my essay, and fix my abundant amount of grammar mistakes. Also they helped me to properly cite my sources.  In the end, what I found most difficult for one would be my information . Thus meaning that it was truly hard to find the right articles on texting laws in states. This became a problem for me because I went in with one game plan, and had to switch to accommodate to the lack of information I had on that topic . The Second major problem would have to be organization. Even with going to the UCF writing center to get help,in the end I still had a lot of trouble. However, the easy part of this Lit review would be the fact of not having to find all these article last minute to put in our paper.  It  was nice to have them already to use since we did them every week . When I revise my lit review for my portfolio the following things will need improvement. The most important would have to be organization with making my paper flow better to the reader. Second, would have to be providing  better citations , and facts incorporated in my lit review on my original focus of laws. This lit review relates to the objective in this course in every way possible . This lit review helped me  engage better in a research process, produce a purposeful argument, and as well as develop better writing strategies.