The Dangers Of Distracted Driving

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Distracted driving is a huge issue in today’s society, and sadly is not taken very seriously. Distracted driving is defined as: any activity that could divert a person's attention away from the primary task of driving. There are many different kinds of districts that can all be categorized in these three groups: Manual, Visual, and Cognitive. Manual distracts are distractions requiring one to move their hands away from the control of the vehicle. Examples of manual distractions are texting, eating, makeup, multitasking, etc. Visual distractions occur when one must take their eyes off the road. Texting, eating, makeup, and messing with a phone are all examples of visual distraction. The last category is cognitive distractions, where one's …show more content…
This includes, but is not limited to, texting, talking, listening to a conversation, talking on the phone, and daydreaming. There are horrible risks when it comes to distracted driving on anyroad. However, distracted driving particular effects today's highway transportation system. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration more than half a million people were injured in crashes on top of the six thousand killed, due to a distracted driver. This number most likely has increased since this 2008 statistic due to the increase in popularity and availability of technology and the …show more content…
I felt surprised at how easy it is to get distracted when driving. I found it very interesting that handheld devices and hand free devices are equally as distracting. My father uses hand free devices when he is on the road and insists it is okay and safer. I realize now however that it is a distraction and is a danger to him, the people in his car, and the other drivers on the road. I also never thought about how much of your concentration eating food takes up. Food is a manual, visual, and cognitive distraction. When someone is hungry or eating food they are thinking about that hunger or about the food in question. The driver has to remove a hand from the steering wheel to eat and must look at the food at the same time to make sure it ends up in the driver's mouth. This is the same when it comes to drinks as well. I also felt anger when researching distracted driving. I felt angry because distracted driving affects others. I find it very selfish of people to use their phone while driving because they are not considering the families that could be ruined or hurt by a simple text message. I feel like distractions can happen so easily yet can be very easily prevented. Shutting or ignoring a phone is a huge factor that could help eliminate a lot of distracted driving. Many people feel they must respond and read their texts immediately while in reality, the text could wait until the car was