Have you ever been in a car and felt like the driver’s mind wasn’t completely on the road? If yes, do you think they should lose their licence for distracted driving? Particularly using a mobile phone while driving?
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, today, distracted driving by using a mobile phone is becoming a severe and growing threat to road safety. Distraction is one of the major contributors to a car crash. Researchers have shown that using a hand-held electrical device while driving can cause a major distraction, and largely increases the possibility of being involved in a crash accident. “People are literally killing themselves and killing others because they can't keep their hands off their phone,” Mr Bailey said (Bochenski, 2019). In Queensland, drivers who use their cell phones while driving will receive a hefty on-the-spot fine, and they will face the risk of losing their licence on the second offence. Why it is so important that people really should not use their mobile phones when driving?
I am sure you will agree that multitasking has become such a normal part of our daily life, especially while we are using smartphones. The vast majority of us believe that multitasking could get things done faster. In fact, Stanford researchers found that a person who multitasks frequently is less efficient than those who like to do a single thing at a time (Bradberry, 2014). If you are using a smartphone while driving, you will fail to notice something that is right in front of the road because multitasking highly reduces your efficiency and performance. The brain would not be able to work properly when using a phone and drive at the same time. There is nothing you can do about it. For young drivers, it is a challenge to operate a car, hence distractions caused by multitasking are extremely dangerous. Imagine how harmful this is if people don't realize how serious the consequences they create are only because they naturally think they are able to multitask.
The majority of society know that we shouldn’t pick up the phone while we are behind the wheel, but how many of us will have a quick glance at a text message when stopped in traffic? Researchers stated that using mobile phones increases the risk of a serious crash by up to four times. Think about this, if you are driving at the speed of 50 kilometres per hour, and you take a glance at your phone, your car can travel approximately 30 metres without you paying any attention to the road, which makes it really difficult to respond to the hazard situation. Imagine the damage of having a phone conversation could cause or taking your eyes off the road to respond to a text, these can all contribute to the problem called inattentional blindness. The term “inattentional blindness” is defined as a psychological issue that comes from a lack of attention to unexpected stimuli (CARPENTER, 2019). By focusing on only one task, we lose the ability to focus on other tasks. Therefore, using a smartphone while driving could minimize distractions to make an error and avoid a serious accident.
The continuous rise in fatalities by using mobile devices while driving is horrible and needs to be addressed by those truly responsible, which is the car owner. if the owner has a car accident while on the phone, the owner should hold the responsibility, not other people. The truth is, there is more than 79 per cent of drivers are not only ignoring the mobile rules while driving but also texting which is against the rule. Using a mobile phone while driving is the major cause of road facilities, coming in ahead of speeding (68%) and drugs and drink driving (67%). Basically, it is illegal for a driver to touch their phone or hold a phone in their hand unless It passes it to the passenger to operate. Yes, even if you are stopped at the traffic lights because the vehicle is stationary. Even though the laws have already banned the use of cell phones while driving for good reasons, not all have followed in their footsteps. In Queensland, the penalty for using a mobile phone while driving can push 500 dollars, which is the harshest punishment. In order to maintain a safe and orderly driving environment for other vehicles, people should keep their hands off their mobile phones while driving.
On the other hand, some people believe manufacturers should also have incentives and programs implemented that help their customers to avoid distracted driving. Cell phone manufacturers can provide some warnings of the risk of texting or receive a call while driving and develop an operating system or an app that will automatically block the phone activated by a sensor of motion. In this operating system, notifications and texts will be blocked automatically and stop you from opening apps on your phone if the system detects that you're driving a car. This will ultimately lead to fewer accidents and protect lots of lives. However, rather than try to shift the major responsibility from the user to the developer, it is necessary to educate the public, especially young adults, and insist that technology should be used responsibly.
In conclusion, distracted driving is extremely dangerous. Next time you feel the urge to send that text, take a breath-hold of it it. Ask yourself if it’s worth risking your life over a text of a movie. We need to be aware that phone use in cars while driving is unacceptable and as anti-social as drink driving. It is our responsibility to not incur their own and other people lives.