Texting and driving are quite common worldwide. Despite its destructive nature, most people are still utilizing it. The norm is dangerous, and it has led to the deaths and injuries of thousands of people. Bergmark et al. (2016) argue that, in 2015, relatively 400,000 people were injured due to distracted driving. Notably, drivers between the age of 16 and 24 are the most affected victims of texting and driving due to lack of experience. Thus, using road distraction devices such as phones and laptops to either text or watch videos increases their potentiality to cause accidents leading to implausible cases of fatalities and injuries. Despite that some people engage in texting and driving due to issues which are understood and need an immediate response, such as an update on the sickness of kin, the dangers are greater than the benefits. Texting or watching videos using any device while driving is associated with lethal consequences. In this essay, one will argue on dangers of texting and driving by highlighting how the practice causes visual distraction, physical driver distraction, lack of control on the road, negative influence on the speed, and the refutation based on excuses people argue on why it is safe to use the phone while driving.
Texting and driving are associated with the visual distraction of the drivers. People who text while driving is bound to take away their attention from the road and draw their concentration on the text message they are composing for quite some time ( Panek et al., 2015) . During the texting process, it causes the creation and receiving of messages between the driver and the other party, thus causing the conversation to take place. As a result, the driver constantly glimpses away from the road due to typing and reading messages. The process hinders the driver from detecting hazards, reacting to road events such as overtaking, leading to failure in controlling the vehicle. Failure to control the vehicle can cause the driver to hit another vehicle or smash street lights. As outlined by Zhu et al. (2018), text messaging makes up 23 times the likelihood of a crash, whereas reaching the mobile device makes up to 1.4 times more likely for one to cause an accident than people who do not engage in the vice while driving. Therefore, visual distraction is dangerous, and its consequences are dire.
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Texting and driving also cause physical destruction of the driver. Driving and texting pose the question of how a driver can engage in the two activities simultaneously. In texting and driving, the driver is forced to hold the phone with one hand and use the free hand to drive. However, in some instances, the driver is forced to use both hands to text, whereas he or she is driving simultaneously. During such cases, the frequency of correcting the wheel is either delayed or reduced ( Panek et al., 2015 ). The challenge affects the vehicle's lateral control since the drivers with busy hands are characterized by the slower response to hazards that might be experienced on the road.
Nonetheless, texting while driving leads to a lack of control of the vehicle's accuracy within the lanes. Texting and driving concurrently makes the driver use at least 10% of their time outside the required driving lane ( Zhu et al., 2018) . By acting in such a manner, the driver lacks the desired attentiveness, thus putting all the participants using the road at risk. For instance, such kind of drivers puts the life of the pedestrians in a dangerous situation. Failure to pay attention to the road makes the driver unable to notice the red sign resulting in hitting the pedestrians. Apart from that, drivers who text while driving endangers the lives of other drivers. Texting drivers force those drivers who follow driving rules to move from their lane because if one of the drivers does not use their lane appropriately, they force others to follow the same as they try to avoid accidents. In such cases, however, the danger of car accidents increases. Therefore inappropriate control of the vehicle by moving outside the lane even for a while is very hazardous.
Texting and driving also influence the speed at which one's vehicle moves. When one engages in texting while on the wheel, they decrease the speed and increase in space between their vehicle and one in front ( Bergmark et al., 2016) . Such behavior causes disturbances in road behavior. Similarly, decreasing the speed can also result in the visual distraction of the driver to some degree. The norm may interfere with the driver's ability to utilize the appropriate driving performance.
Regardless of the countless negative influences driving while texting has on overall road safety, many people still engage in the norm. The justification for texting and driving among most motorists is based on excuses that it is safe. According to statistics, 77% of young people are confident that they can simultaneously drive and text whereas, 55% of adults attribute texting and driving as easy, thus posing no threat to the safety of other road users ( Zhu et al., 2018 ). The most common excuse that those who view texting and driving as safe include the perception that texting while driving is normally done at a stop sign. Similarly, other people view that texting and driving do not pose any challenge since it is common, and accidents can be caused by anything else. In most cases involving young people who text and drive, the majority outlines that their parents or elder people than them used to text and drive, and for that purpose, they do not see anything wrong. People who engage in texting and driving also view that it does not cause distraction than other causes of accidents such as eating or engaging in conversation with other people in the vehicle ( Bergmark et al., 2016) . Some users also view that in texting and driving, one does not necessarily jeopardize road safety since they hold the phone near the windshield for better visibility purposes. Excuses for texting while driving will always exist, and it will never justify the fatalities and injuries of many innocent people who suffer from car accidents, with negative impacts. Hence, people need to avoid texting while driving at all costs.
Conclusion
Texting and driving have many consequences regardless of the excuses presented by those who believe it is not hazardous. The norm has a negative impact on various aspects associated with safe driving performance. Texting and driving lead to the driver's visual distraction because the constant looking at the phone for either reading or typing messages, a behavior that decreases their attentiveness on the road. Texting and driving are also attributed to the physical distraction of the driver. Constant concentration on the phone affects the driver's lateral control of a vehicle, a challenge associated with a slower response to road hazards. The dangers mentioned above of texting and driving are harmful to the drivers' safety and health and general users of the road, such as pedestrians. Despite the dangers in place, many people still text while driving and use excuses to validate the norm. To avoid the dangers of road usage due to texting and driving, people need to follow the law provision on the use of roads—campaigns on awareness related to texting while driving needs to be created.
References
Bergmark, R. W., Gliklich, E., Guo, R., & Gliklich, R. E. (2016). Texting while driving: the development and validation of the distracted driving survey and risk score among young adults. Injury epidemiology , 3 (1), 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-016-0073-8
Panek, E. T., Bayer, J. B., Dal Cin, S., & Campbell, S. W. (2015). Automaticity, mindfulness, and self-control as predictors of dangerous texting behavior. Mobile Media & Communication , 3 (3), 383-400. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2050157915576046
Zhu, M., Rudisill, T. M., Rauscher, K. J., Davidov, D. M., & Feng, J. (2018). Risk perceptions of cellphone use while driving: Results from a delphi survey. International journal of environmental research and public health , 15 (6), 1074. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/6/1074#
