Texting while driving

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Texting While Driving
It entails the act of composing, sending or reading a text message via a mobile device by a driver while on the road. The inception of conventional cellphones, as well as smartphones, has led to a proliferation of texting since the 2000s. Texting while driving has been linked to the increased exposure of the driver as well as other people in the car to fatal accidents due to a distraction of the driver. Driver distraction encompasses three aspects: visual distraction, manual distraction, and cognitive distraction (Klauer 56). Visual distraction entails the driver ceasing to focus on the road while manual distraction entails the driver ceasing to focus on the steering wheel. Cognitive distraction entails the driver shifting their focus off the road from driving to other activities.
Texting while driving predisposes the driver to all the three fore mentioned distractions that exacerbate the risk of the occurrence of traffic accidents. Annually in the United States, cell phone use results to approximately 1.6 million crashes (Farmer et al. 468). The crashes result to about 500, 000 injuries and about 6,000 fatalities (Farmer et al. 468). Texting while driving is the leading cause of crashes among driving teenagers whereby 11 teens lose their lives daily in the United States as a result of texting while driving. Texting while driving is linked to 25% of all the car accidents in the United States (Farmer et al. 468).
A near universal agreement exists that texting while driving is life-threatening yet nearly 75% of drivers have at least texted once while driving in the United States (It Can Wait Compulsion Survey Key Findings 3).

The Center for Internet and Technology Addiction in collaboration with AT&T carried out a survey in May 2014 to establish reasons that push people to text while driving in the United States. The telephone survey encompassed 1,004 respondents (It Can Wait Compulsion Survey Key Findings 2). The qualification criteria to participate in the survey was that a respondent was between 16 and 65 years, owned a cell phone, drove at least once daily and texted at least once while driving (It Can Wait Compulsion Survey Key Findings 2).
The survey established a wide range of reasons behind drivers texting while driving. The reason behind 43% of the respondents texting while driving was to stay updated about developments among family, friends, and work (It Can Wait Compulsion Survey Key Findings 5). 30% of the respondents were found to text while driving simply out of habit (It Can Wait Compulsion Survey Key Findings 5). Only 6% of the respondents confessed that they were addicted to texting while driving (It Can Wait Compulsion Survey Key Findings 5). Texting while driving has been established to be a dopamine-driven behavior (Huddleston n.pg). When a person consistently texts over time, their brain becomes programmed to perceive each text as a reward. Further, human beings are social creatures thus they have an inherent urge to foster connections with other people. Texting provides a great way to grow connections particularly from the ability to send and receive prompt responses to texts. However, a majority of the people are unable to get enough of texting eventually becoming addicted to texting. As a result, people increasingly text while driving exacerbating their risk of involving themselves as well as other drivers on the road in fatal accidents.
To obtain a first-hand experience of the proliferation of texting while driving on our roads, I visited a nearby town to observe the number of people who were texting while driving. I visited 66 Elm St, Nashua, NH 03060 in the morning hours between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. to observe the number of drivers who were texting while driving. The number of cars that drove by were 150 and I observed that 50 drivers were texting while driving. This means that about a third of the drivers were texting while driving that significantly increases the risk of the occurrence of tragic accidents.
Department of Safety (n.pg) reported that 103 crashes occurred in New Hampshire over the duration of 15 months after the inception of hands-free law in 2015. On July 1, 2005, New Hampshire banned all drivers from using handheld cell phones when operating a moving motor vehicle (“New Hampshire Cell Phone & Texting Driving Rules” n.pg). Persons caught texting while driving is subject to a fine of $100 if it is the first offense up to a fine of $500 for subsequent offenses (“New Hampshire Cell Phone & Texting Driving Rules” n.pg). The law also restricts all teens from using handheld cell phones while operating a moving motor vehicle. A ban exists restricting all drivers from using handheld cell phones whereby offenders are subjected to a fine up to $500 (“New Hampshire Cell Phone & Texting Driving Rules” n.pg). A ban exists restricting all drivers from texting while driving where the fine for the violation of this law is $100 (“New Hampshire Cell Phone & Texting Driving Rules” n.pg). Teen drivers are also banned from using a cell phone as well as other electronic devices. Offenders are subjected to a fine up to $500 (“New Hampshire Cell Phone & Texting Driving Rules” n.pg). All drivers also are banned from viewing TV broadcast signals while driving.
Laws prohibiting drivers from texting while driving in New Hampshire are considered primary laws (“New Hampshire Cell Phone & Texting Driving Rules” n.pg). A primary law implies that a police officer is charged with the power of pulling an offender off the road without witnessing another violation. Police can impose the fine of $100 on drivers they observe texting while driving without having to visit a court of law. The laws prohibiting drivers from texting while driving are ideal for mitigating the number of tragic road accidents occurring in the wake of an increased number of people using mobile devices while operating moving motor vehicles.

Works Cited
Division Of Motor Vehicles | NH Department Of Safety”. Nh.Gov, 2016,
http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/dmv/.
Farmer, Charles M., Keli A. Braitman, and Adrian K. Lund. “Cell phone use while driving and
attributable crash risk.” Traffic injury prevention 11.5 (2010): 466-470.
Huddleston, Brad. Digital Cocaine (ebook). Christian Art Distributors Pty Ltd, 2016. Internet
resource.
Klauer, Sheila G., et al. “Distracted driving and risk of road crashes among novice and
experienced drivers.” New England journal of medicine 370.1 (2014): 54-59.
“New Hampshire Cell Phone & Texting Driving Rules”. Handsfreeinfo.Com, 2016,
http://handsfreeinfo.com/new-hampshire-cell-phone-laws-legislation/.
It Can Wait Compulsion Survey Key Findings. 1st ed., 2014,
https://about.att.com/content/dam/snrdocs/It%20Can%20Wait%20Compulsion%20Survey%20Key%20Findings_9%207%2014.pdf.