Darrell E. Amio
National University
COH 430
HP Strategies & Tactics
Dangers of Texting and Driving
In today's society, staying connected to your electronic device during every hour of the day is a must, and it has become so addictive that a personal device has become an extension of their body, unfortunately for some having that connection comes with a price. Currently, in the United States, nine people are killed, and 1,000 injured each day in crashes that involve distracted drivers (NHTSA,2017). For many of those distracted driver accidents, the main reason behind the distraction was due to the use of a cell phone. For some drivers their vehicle has become a mobile office, every opportunity they have to seize the moment and accomplish a task they will surely take it, even if it is behind the wheel of a vehicle (Copeland, 2010). Reading emails and sending text messages while driving is an everyday activity for some adults and teens. Although a lot of laws have been passed and established to prevent these types of distraction while driving and help avoid accidents, they continue to be disregarded. The following paper will identify and describe a strategy or tactic used to influence behavioral, environmental, and public policy changes in regards to distracted driving by cell phone usage.
Distracted driving takes the lives of thousands of people, and specifically, cell phone distractions take away hundreds of those lives. Today, society is driven by social acceptance, and cell phones have become a tool to gain that approval providing a portal to information to keep the user up to date on the latest news, gossip, and information. In 2014, 26% of all car accidents in the United States involved the use of a cell phone (DMV, 2017). Most adults and teens of various ages with the ability to drive can plead guilty to using their cell phone at least one time while driving. Common reasons for using their phone while driving is to check on future traffic delays, following up on the current news or sports scores, or sending a quick message to a friend, to even checking for any new emails. To help combat this dangerous behavior, one of the most popular cell phone carriers started a campaign called "It can wait." American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) started the "It can wait" campaign to help educate wireless users on the risks of texting and driving. Their goal is to put an end to dangerous behavior of driving and texting and have all wireless user realize that a simple text is not worth a life. AT&T first launched their campaign in 2010 with a simple message stating "distracted driving is never OK" (GHSA, 2017). AT&T hit the ground running with this campaign and created websites, public service announcements, a virtual reality tour on their website which helped people understand that is not safe to drive while using a smartphone, and even a pledge that people can sign up for and receive a sticker stating “It can wait” for their vehicle. AT&T even went to partner with local governments and business to help spread their message nationwide. In 2017, AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign completed a nationwide tour stopping at 500 locations and reaching out to 65,000 people across the country. Figure 1 depicts the tour stops that the “It Can Wait” campaign visited during their tour around the nation.
Figure 1. It Can Wait campaign tour stops. Taken from: Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). (2017). AT&T's It Can Wait. Retrieved November 28, 2017, from http://www.ghsa.org/resources/partner-initiatives/ICW
Alongside AT&T’s campaign, the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) wanted to help and change the behavior of parents and the way they educate their teens on cell phone use while driving. On the NPTA website an interview with David Melton, a director of transportation for Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, was interviewed about parent’s roles and teaching methods to help prevent distracted teenage driving. Melton stated that "Parents are role models for these teens" and that “Parents need to be an example for these teen and practice the same teaching they preach unto their children." Milton added, “Teens get safe driving examples from many sources but no one more than mom and dad” (NPTA. 2017). In addition to education, parents can also download applications on their child’s cell phone that have been created to prevent cell phone usage during driving. One application called Lifesaver can be found on both Android and Apple’s application store. It sends parents notifications on a child's whereabouts, and blocks call and text messages when the child is in a vehicle that is being driven (DMV, 2017).
On an environmental aspect to help combat against distracted driving cell phone usage, the National Highway Traffic Safety Admiration (NHTSA) partnered with local police and State's to help decrease the number of accidents that were caused by distracted driving. While the State's focused on implementing laws, the NHTSA provided federal funding to local driven strategies combating distracted driving. One of the successes of this partnership was the creation of Distracted Driving Awareness Month for April. Local authorities would use signs alongside freeways stating phrases like "U Drive, U Text, U Pay" to help deter drivers from using their cellphones while driving on the highway (NHTSA, 2017). Figure 2 is a sign on a Texas highway that alerts drivers of the hazards of texting and driving.
Figure 2. Texas Department of Transportation (State of Texas). (2017). You Talk, You Text, You Crash. Retrieved November 29, 2017, from http://www.txdot.gov/driver/share-road/distracted.html
In doing this, the NHTSA created an environment in which a community comes together to combat against distracted drivers. Drivers on the road would honk and notify drivers by using hand signals to put their cell phones down and focus on the road. In some extreme cases, drivers can call their local non- emergent hotline and notify authorities of a driver on the road that is more focused on their cell phone then what is coming up ahead on the road.
States took notice of these efforts made by different associations and companies and decided to take action on their level and create new laws and policies that will be used to regulate the use of cell phones while behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. States began to treat distracted driving along the same lines of driving under the influence (DUI) and started mirroring parts of their existing DUI law to the new distracted driving law. Some would say that this may be harsh, but studies have shown that distracted driving can be the same or more dangerous than one driving under the influence. The University of Utah psychologists has published a study in 2006 showing that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free cellular phones are as impaired as drunken drivers. They found that drivers on cell phone exhibited sluggish behavior and slower reaction which they attempted to compensate for by increasing their following distance. The study concludes that cell phone drivers showed greater impairment than intoxicated drivers and caused three times more accidents than drunk drivers (UOU, 2006). In California, assembly bill number 1785 (AB 1785) was passed in 2016; AB 1785 prohibits a person from using an electronic device to send, write or read a text-based communication while driving a motor vehicle. Under AB 1785, a driver that is noticed to be using a cell phone or other electronic communication device while drive can be ticketed for twenty dollars ($20) for the first offense and fifty dollars ($50) for each subsequent offense after (California Legislative Information, 2016). In addition to California’s AB 1785, commercial drivers are also mandated to follow policies created by The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) which prohibits all commercials drivers from using hand-held mobile devices while operating their vehicles.
In all reality with all the campaigns, initiatives, laws, and bills distracted driving is still a constant practice on freeways and roads today. Society has become dependent on their devices causing people to become unable to focus on a single task like driving. Their minds become used to receiving the information they develop a mild attention deficit disorder, causing them to get bored quickly while driving and in turn have them searching for the latest gossip or catching up on the newest episode of their favorite series while driving on the road or stuck in traffic. Most of society has the perception that staying connected to the outside world is of more importance than to the focusing on the drive. This mentality can harm the lives of innocent people who are just trying to make it to their destination. So it is necessary for every individual to open up their eyes to the dangers of texting while driving. It takes a village to be responsible, with others looking out for each other, parents educating their children correctly as well a being a leading example, and authorities upholding the law then there would be fewer car accidents every year, and the roads becoming safer.
References
California Legislative Information. (2016). AB-1785 Vehicles: use of wireless electronic devices. from https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1785
Copeland, Larry. Awareness gap’ on road texting. USA Today Sept. 2010: 03A Gale Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 18 Apr. 2012.
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). (2017). Texting & Driving, from https://www.dmv.org/distracted-driving/texting-and-driving.php#Texting-Driving- statistics
Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). (2017). AT&T's It Can Wait. from http://www.ghsa.org/resources/partner-initiatives/ICW
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). (2017). U drive. U text. U pay. from https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving
National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA). (2017). Texting While Driving Parents' Role in Prevention. from https://www.pta.org/home/family-resources/safety/Teen-Driver- Safety/Texting-While-Driving-Parents-Role-in-Prevention
University of Utah (UOU). (2006). Drivers on Cell Phones Are as Bad as Drunks. from https://archive.unews.utah.edu/news_releases/drivers-on-cell-phones-are-as-bad-as- drunks/