To many people in the developed
world, driving or operating a motor vehicle is an undertaking that comes as
almost automatic, especially when one has been doing it for a long time. With
so much technology going into automobiles, they now practically drive
themselves. However, this mentality of familiarity and complacency when driving
often leads to people not paying attention while driving. Most people are
unaware that driving takes a lot of concentration to do. This often leads to
road mishaps and accidents that cause damage to property and even the lives of
people who get involved in accidents. The
two most common causes of road accidents right now are driving while under the
influence of alcohol and texting while driving. This essay will compare and
contrast the two in order to get a better understanding. However, it should be stressed despite popular belief, driving while
texting is far more dangerous than driving while drunk.
The two
are major causes of road accidents because in essence they are distractions
that rob drivers of the much-needed attention that they should be giving to
driving. Driving while texting for that matter takes the eyes of the driver
from the road, this can lead to accidents. Driving is a delicate balance of the
senses that requires motor coordination to operate the vehicle alone. Of utmost
importance is the sense of sight. When a driver uses a cellphone, they take
their eyes from the road and have to use the hands to operate the phone (Arce 2014).
This in turns leads to precious minutes taken off the road and in operating a
vehicle.
Drunk driving, on the other hand, is
another type of distraction that causes drivers to lose focus. It is has gotten
a bad reputation because majority of those accidents that happened in the 70s,
80s and early 90s were caused by drunk drivers. Drinking alcohol causes a
person to lose focus because alcohol reduces reaction times. As earlier stated,
driving requires utmost concentration, and if a person does not pay attention
long enough or react on time this causes accidents (Arce 2014). Just like
texting, driving while drunk can also cause a person to take their eyes off the
road because there are instances when a person under the heavy influence of
alcohol sleeps for a few seconds. Like driving while texting, this can lead to
catastrophic consequences.
In contrast, studies show that
operating a motor vehicle while texting is far more dangerous than driving
while under the influence of alcohol. In a study conducted by the
Transportation Research Laboratory of UK, it was found that drivers who
occupied themselves with texting while driving were 35 percent lower reaction
times than those who were driving alone (Arce 2014). Those who
were drunk while driving had only 12 percent slower reaction times (Arce 2014).
Because the act of texting while driving takes the eyes of the driver away from
the road that causes them to drift lanes and put the lives of other drivers in
danger. Driving is an exercise where attention and reaction times are important
so the results of the study alone show that despite what many may think, it is
still driving while texting that is more dangerous than driving while drunk.
With the current trend of cellphones
being ever more ubiquitous in modern societies, very few people really
understand its dangers. For some it may be easy to point a finger at drunk
driving as the greater evil, but studies increasingly show that texting is far
more dangerous. People tend to ignore this fact but this does not mean that it
is not dangerous. It is tantamount to not looking at the road and this could
cause big problems because one is not only putting the lives of other people in
danger. It would be like driving blind for a few seconds at a time and this is
unacceptable especially when other drivers are doing their best to avoid road
mishaps.
References
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