For many years, one of the leading causes of accidents and fatalities has been driving under intoxication. Drunk drivers have a poor judgment of the road and make wrong judgments resulting in fatal accidents. The result is that drunk driving has been made illegal and people can face huge fines and penalties for drunk driving. Another issue that necessitates similar strictness is distracted driving. Distracted driving is also a big distracted and it increases the likelihood of car accidents. Unfortunately, the laws and regulations dealing with distracted driving have not been well formulated and have been poorly implemented. The result is that many people continue to put their lives and those of other people at risk. Distracted driving such as texting, talking, and listening to music on the phone should be banned to avoid fatal accidents.
Driving Performance
Distracted driving should be banned because it has been found to affect driving performance. The use of ethos is used to identify oneself as a credible character in discussing a topic. Conducting adequate research on the issue of distracted driving has been used to establish the credibility of the argument. Rumschlag et al. (2015) examined the effects of texting on driving performance through the use of a driving simulator. The results from the study established that texting impairs driving simulator performance. Lane excursions was observed among 66% of all the subjects that were involved in texting when driving. The study further reported that the effects of texting on driving was even worse for elderly drivers. The implications of the research show that the use of phones while driving should be banned for everyone. The laws should be continually passed and strictly implemented for the older generation of drivers.
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Health Hazard with Increased Likelihood of Accidents
Driver distraction has been the cause of many road accidents and this has created significant suffering for many. The emotional appeal through pathos is thus that distracted driving causes fatal accidents and legislators that want to reduce the emotional turmoil and suffering from such accidents should thus be quick to implement laws that prohibit distracted driving. Dingus et al. (2016) established that the causes of crash has shifted in the recent years as a result of impairment, distraction, and driver error. Approximately 90% of driving crashes have been caused by errors on the part of drivers. Many families in the United States and throughout the world have lost their loved ones with many others being hospitalized as a result of distracted driving. The nature of suffering and severity caused by distracted driving should make it be treated as a crisis. Law enforcement officers and legislators that want to help the society should implement and enforce policies that would reduce suffering and benefit the society.
The use of hands free devices by talking on the phone has also been found to result in distracted driving and crashes. While some have proposed that hands-free devices could be used as an approach to reduce the distraction of the driver, the results have not been effective. With the driver talking on the phone while driving, their mental concentration shifts from the road to the topic on the phone. This increases the chances of getting an accident as one’s full mental capacity on the road becomes reduced.
More Dangerous Than Drinking and Driving
Distracted driving should be banned because it is even more dangerous than drinking and driving. When one engages in texting and driving, they can have both their hands and eyes engaged meaning that their mind, their eyes, and their hands is not on the road. This is different from driving when drunk where one may have their eyes focused on the road and would still be aware surroundings. A person that is texting and driving thus puts their whole attention on the phone and may find it difficult to concentrate on what is around them. This means that texting drivers are actually taking an equal and even greater risk compared to drunk drivers.
Effectiveness of Implementation
Various states have established laws that prohibit distracted driving and the outcome has been positive. When considering logos, from a logical perspective, if distracted driving leads to crashes, then simply prohibiting distracted driving will reduce those crashes. Such a logical approach has been applied to several states such as Oregon, New Jersey, Washington, New York, and California and has been found to be effective in these states. Abouk and Adams (2013) examined the effectiveness of distracted driving bans and established that they actually reduce the number of people that used their phones when driving and thus the number of accidents. The bans appeared to be quite successful in reducing the number of single-occupant and single vehicle accidents. However, the study also noted that there was a need to have regulations that are stricter as the policies mostly worked in the short-term.
Counter-Argument
There are many that observe that placing bans on distracted driving would not be the right and practicable solution. One of the counterarguments that has been raised is that an educative approach should be used as drivers will always have to communicate when traveling. Drivers should thus be made aware of the different ways that they can use their phones and still reduce road accidents. An example involves the use of hands-free devices when traveling. Banning all forms of communication through smartphone devices is essentially impossible as drivers, like every other person have to communicate. The role that cell phones play in communication and entertainment is addictive and simply banning such communications can even create problems. Some have also argued that placing such bans will mean that people will become more tensed up when using their devices and this would result in even more crashes.
Counter-Counter Argument
The move of educating drivers regarding how to use mobile phones when on the road would not be effective as it appears that it will involve promoting the use of cellphones. Such an approach is illogical in nature as it will result in more drivers using their phone as they think that they are using it correctly. The use of hands-free devices for drivers has also been found not to be effective in reducing distraction while driving. This is because the mental concentration of the driver becomes reduced as they concentrate with their driving. The only practical approach thus remains placing bans and implementing strict laws and policies that places ban on distracted driving.
In conclusion, distracted driving such as texting, talking, and listening to music on the phone have been the cause of many accidents and there is a need to ban them to avoid any future accidents. The emotional appeal made is that accidents cause injuries, death, and suffering among many people and there is an urgent need to reduce such suffering. The only logical thing to do would be simply to place a ban on distracted driving to ensures that drivers that put their lives and the lives of others at risk face huge penalties. Although some argue that drivers should be taught how to use their devices correctly, this may not work as it can encourage the use of mobile devices.
References
Abouk, R., & Adams, S. (2013). Texting bans and fatal accidents on roadways: do they work? Or do drivers just react to announcements of bans?. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics , 5 (2), 179-99.
Dingus, T. A., Guo, F., Lee, S., Antin, J. F., Perez, M., Buchanan-King, M., & Hankey, J. (2016). Driver crash risk factors and prevalence evaluation using naturalistic driving data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 113 (10), 2636-2641.
Rumschlag, G., Palumbo, T., Martin, A., Head, D., George, R., & Commissaris, R. L. (2015). The effects of texting on driving performance in a driving simulator: The influence of driver age. Accident Analysis & Prevention , 74 , 145-149.
