Using a Mobile Phone while Driving - Essay Example

Part One

Teenagers are subjecting their lives to a great risk of being accident victims daily. It so obvious that teenagers like exploring the available social medial and making fun calls every time they have a desire. In many cases, the cell phones supporting the above stated features draw their attentions and they end up concentrating on one direction. Currently, with the continued growth in technology, it is saddening the way the number of teenager deaths resulting from use of cell phones while driving has been on rise. The way in which young children have been losing their lives on the road is disheartening not to forget elderly people as well. However, with every new day, there are new opportunities to make change, make a difference and make better choices in individual’s life as well as the lives of others (Goodman, 2005). By choosing not to drive with a cell phone, it is imperative in saving the life of a father who is on his way to work in the morning or that young child clinging on her mother’s hand crossing the street. However, a good number of drivers have opted not to make the simple choices. The use of cell phones while driving should be mitigated to minimize victimization of drivers and other road users. Therefore, since no single driver should be assumed innocent having used cell phone while driving.

By just looking at it, it looks quite simple. However, every other second of every day, a good number of drivers deems their social life to be of more value than the lives of the pedestrians crossing or even along the road and thus choses to reply to a text or even pick or make a call while driving. The consequences of such actions have been profound (Goodman, 2005). Have you under any circumstance found yourself making such kind of a choice? Are you likely to count among the people at fault for your choices while driving? Do you have extremely superb driving skills that you feel invincible? If that is the case, this might be the best time for reality check. The three problems that need be addressed include lack of knowledge, lack laws governing the same and low levels of highway technology.

Lack of knowledge is one of the major problems that have been leading to a substantial numbers of accidents. That has been common to a good number of drivers who despites knowing the consequences of chatting and making call while driving, chooses to ignore (Yang & Parry, 2014). It is thus the responsibility of the government to spread the knowledge on how dangerous it is to use cell phone while driving. For instance, in 2010, the number of people who died in a crash that involved distracted driving as a result of use of cell phones was approximately 3092 in US. Moreover, it is clear that 40% of the teens in America have confirmed using cell phone while driving which is all about lack of regulations on the use of cell phones (Yang & Parry, 2014). After becoming knowledgeable, it will then be imperative to act on the knowledge by writing a message to our representatives’. The message should demand for legislative action banning usage of cell phone while driving. Implementation of the legislation will come along with numerous advantages and thus saving thousands of lives.

Lack of laws governing the use of cell phones while driving is another potential risk. Despite appearing as a common sense notion, different states have different laws regarding use of phones while driving. However, putting into a consideration how the accidents resulting from distracted driving has been affecting that country’s economy since some are parents and thus upon death the states has to take care of the left children (Tian & Robinson, 2016). However, to fix the menace, all the states should have standard laws regulating the use of cell phones while driving. Some people just assume that since talking or texting is not illegal, and then is if fine doing. It is vital for all the traffic officers to support implementation of the laws that have been put forward against texting while driving. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the government to enforce the laws that will highly abandon drivers who misuse their cell phones.

Finally, the issue of low level of highway technology has led to increased use of cell phones while driving. Drivers make uncountable calls to confirm matters related to direction, traffic jam and conditions of various roads. It is in the process of confirming the above factors that the driver gets distracted and ends up making a fatal accident. The fear of getting lost or delaying in jam for several hours is a key cause of using cell phone (Yang & Parry, 2014). However, these reasons should not continue endangering road users. The general communication matters should be catered for by strategizing technological efforts rather than education and legislative measures.

Part Two

Solutions to the Problems and the Advantages

The remedy to the problem of lack of knowledge on the adverse effects of the use cell phone while driving includes educating and counseling the drivers (Lee, 2007). Driving schools should introduce lessons that are meant to educate the drivers on the dangers of texting or calling while driving. Education can be in the form of media messages that can either be from the internet or from the TV. The method is effective in addition to being of great help to the drivers. Counseling is the other effective way of passing knowledge to the drivers though in certain specific situations (Yang & Parry, 2014). For instance, if a driver has already been involved in an accident due the use of cell phone while driving, counseling will ensure that he/she will never repeat the mistake again. The advantage of education is that it is the most inoffensive, inexpensive as well as politically easy. It is thus an economically as well as a socially friendly way of curbing the problem of mobile use while driving.

Lack of clearly stipulated laws governing the use of cell phones does not guarantee the teenagers to continue risking other people’s lives as well as theirs. The National Transport Authority should review the policy governing driving practices (Lee, 2007). The body should come up with a policy that states the requirements of a qualified driver. A good example is where all the drivers should possess improved cellphones that will supports emerging highway technologies. Technologists have developed software that can be used to hinder texting while driving set as a default. To be more convenient, the cellphones alerts all the callers that the person is driving through a text message (Yang & Parry, 2014). The alerts are automatically sent to the people trying to connect with the driver. The software is very efficient as it has a sensor for sensing ignition sound to disable for functioning even if the driver is not ready to disable the phone. The law should ensure that such a requirement is highly monitored by the traffic police to promote efficiency on the roads. The policy is advantageous since it will reduce the menace of accidents significantly thus minimizing economic loses that cater for the incidents (Lee, 2007). In addition, the social challenges that occur as a result of accidents caused by distracted driving are mitigated. The calling customers are kept aware to maintain good relationship with callers who could be business customers or other important persons.

To handle low technology levels on the highways, the vehicles must be fitted with surveillance gadgets that require very little attention of the driver to get informed. Computerized gadgets have the capability of getting information from the road administrators thus minimizing the importance of cell phones while driving (Lee, 2007). Navigation is made easier by the technology, in addition to the technological traffic jam control. The traffic lights should be improved to provide more information such as crossed roads, traffic jams ahead among others.

Conclusively, despite the continued growth on cell phone usage dependency, regulations regarding the usage of cell phone while driving need be standardized (Goodman, 2005). It is time that the safety of the many American motorists should be taken and considered to be of great importance than convenience. To fix the problem, it calls for a change in the form of enlightenment of the motorists. American should take it as their individual responsibility to recognize, learn and as well spread the knowledge as a way of preventing the persistence of the problem. Issues that may be regarding the adverse effects of standardizing cell phone regulations while driving should be addressed and deal with in the spirit of saving people’s lives. It is clear that certain individuals will still resist change as always has been (Yang & Parry, 2014). However, adoption of the culture of responsibility by a group of American is essential in curbing the menace by reducing accidents resulting from usage of cell phones while driving.