Eyes on the Road not your Phone

Most people can text without causing an accident, so it’s safe for them, but throughout the years, the cell phone has brought conveniences and luxuries to many people across the United States. “Texiting is on the rise, up from 9.8 billion messages a month in December ’05 to 110.4 billion in December ’08” (Tesler).Not only has it made communication much easier, but when it comes to road safety gives drivers to emergency help at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, phones can cause great hazards too. Texting while driving is the act of composing, sending, or reading a text messages on a mobile device, while operating any type of car. Over the years there have been many deaths and car accidents involving texting behind the wheel. Texting or talking on the phone while driving causes many distractions leading to car accidents; therefore, the United States government should require cars to be equipped with hands-free communication technology and should make cell phone usage behind the wheel illegal nationwide, in order to make roads more secure. Statistics have shown that the deaths involving texting while driving have increased over the years. “Distracted deaths as a share of all road fatalities increased from 10.9% to 15.8% from 1999 to 2008, and much of the increase occurred after 2005. Fatalities related to distracted driving increased 28.4% from 2005 to 2008, rising to 5870 in 2008” (Wilson). As the cell phone technology improves, the risk of texting while driving is rising with every new purchase of a cell phone. Texting while driving takes away the one thing that absolutely everyone counts on while behind the wheel: vision. Each day thousands of teenagers and adults cross the United States reach for their phones and get distracted while driving. It only takes a minute for a person to open their phone and respond to a text, but it also only takes a minute for his life to be over. “Studies estimate that the distractions caused by cell phone use while driving result in roughly 2600 fatalities and 330,000 injuries each year in the United States” (Noder).Texting while driving is a distraction and not only is the texter’s life on the line, but so is someone else’s. One way the United Sates Government should make roads safer is by requiring vehicles to be equipped with more advanced technology. As we know cars are becoming more and more secure by adding more air bags adding blind spot sensors, but not as much when it comes to helping drivers communicable safely. Nowadays, cars like the Lexus 2012 can park by themselves just by pressing a button. Also cars like Toyota Camry have a feature through which a person can speak out the song title that he wants and the radio will automatically play it without the driver having to reach to the radio. Many of the new cars have an option where they can answer a call through Bluetooth, but they do not have the option to answer a text message. With all that technology, car companies should make a feature on all vehicles manufactured 2012 after where the radio can read the text message to the person driving the car. Another good feature is having an option where people can connect their cell phone to the radio; that way, they can speak out whatever they want to and the radio, will put it in a text message. Technology is growing fast in the United Sates and all over the world; therefore it should not be hard for companies to make cars with hands-free communication features installed. Another way the United Sates Government should make roads safer is enforce laws by using technology to cell phone-free roadways. As technology improves the U.S Government should invest on roadway safety. Some places, such as school zones, outlaw the usage of phones behind the wheel. Many states are trying to ban the use of cell phones while driving and high-tech, instantaneous enforcement of these laws would really make an impact. “Only 30 states currently have text