Talking and Driving

I agree with the points made in this article that driving while talking on the phone greatly affects your driving. "During the 1990s and early 2000s, many driving-safety advocates complained that "cell phone drivers" were distracted by wireless technology and often drove erratically as a result. They alleged that drivers engrossed in conversations would frequently speed, drive too slowly or run through red lights and stop signs. Other drivers who talked on their cell phones while they drove could not control their vehicles well because they would steer only with one hand as they talked" (Issues & Controversies On File 1). Once again talking on your cell phone affects your focus and can cause you to drive too slow or fast, run red lights, and other things stated in the quote. When you talk on the phone and doing these dangerous maneuvers you are greatly increasing your chances of an accident. I don't agree with this statement made in the article,"Some drivers claimed that they enjoyed talking on their cell phones because it provided a respite from the boredom inherent in commuting to work or running errands" (Issues & Controversies On File 1). While communicating with other while on the move is helpful, talking on the phone with them is a hazard to your personal safety.

Texting decreases your reaction rates more than Alcohol

I agree with the points made in this article. The Transport Research Laboratory did a study on drivers and their reaction times when texting and found interesting results. "Their reaction times deteriorated by 35 per cent, much worse than those who drank alcohol at the legal limit, who were 12 per cent slower." I find this information easy to believe because when you drink alcohol and then drive, you are not as focused as you were if you were sober. When you text while you drive you are taking your focus away from the road and depending for how long you text, it could be worse to text and drive then to drink. "During the study, the Transport Research Laboratory concluded that text messages took on average 63 seconds to compose while the phone owner was driving, compared with 22 seconds when sent from a desk." I like this informaion found in the study because it should show people that they should not waste a minute and three seconds to send a message while driving, when they can send the message from their desk in less than half the time. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/news/article4776063.ece

Driving Distracted

I agree with points made by Steven Yantis, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University; when he says,"Part of the problem may be that when people direct their attention to sound, the visual capacity of their brain decreases." I agree with this statement because as a learning driver I'm learning that driving takes all your focus and you need to be aware of everything around you. If you are talking on the phone or texting while doing so, then you are taking your focus away from the road and everything else. I also agree with points made about hands free devices. "A series of 2007 simulator tests conducted by Strayer seems to indicate the opposite. A passenger acted as another set of eyes for the driver in the test and even stopped or started talking depending on the difficulty of conditions outside the car. Meanwhile, half the drivers talking on a hands-free phone failed, bypassing the rest area the test had called for them to stop at." Even though you are not holding your phone while driving your focus is still on the call and not on the road. When you are not focused on the road and the other things around you, then your chance of an accident increases alot. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1916291-1,00.html