Driving down the road, a notification rings on the phone.

It is a text from mom asking how you are doing.  Just answer it now.  It will only take a few seconds.  The next scene is two cars crashed head-on.  The person answering the text is unconscious but in stable condition.  The passenger in the other car is unconscious, and the driver is dead.   This is what happens in some cases where texting and driving are mixed.  Imagine waking up in the hospital afterward and finding out someone was killed as a result of the choice that was made.  The scenario that was just given happens all too often and is the danger of texting and driving.  This danger is something that may never be eliminated.  Even with laws in place, habits are hard to break.

According to a survey conducted in 2012, eleven percent of drivers aged 18 to 20 who were involved in an automobile accident and survived admitted they were sending or receiving texts when they crashed. (FCC, 2015).  We have the ability to change this from being something that happens to something that never happens.  Now look back at the scenario, and picture yourself as the passenger in the vehicle, a teenager.  It was your mother who was killed in the accident.  This loss is devastating and could have been avoided.

The following is a statistic that was shocking to read.  Forty percent of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger, according to a Pew survey.  (FCC, 2015).  This means that at the time of this survey, there were at least 4 out of 10 teens that saw someone using a cell phone while driving.  That is a lot of distracted driving.

The other side of this whole issue is that this is not the biggest problem we face.  This has been an issue since the invention of the cell phone.  Studies may not show any conclusive evidence on the negative impact of texting while driving.  They give valuable information in regards to the issue being discussed.  An interview with the president of IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), he states, I will say we think that’s an unlikely explanation because the bans aren’t having any effect on crashes. We did see a decrease in cellphone use, but we didn’t see crashes go down.  (Hyde, 2010)  Figure 1 shows what is meant in the last statement.

The effects of making laws banning cell phone use according to a survey show that this issue may never go away.  A new study surveyed 1,000 drivers and found that 98% of those who text every day and drive frequently say the practice is dangerous.  Still, nearly 75% say they do it anyway.  (Worland, 2014).  With these statistics, those who were surveyed show that this is one of the hard to break habits.  The amount of people that still do it, even though it is against the law, is eye-opening as well.  Looking at the provided information, there appears to be no solution.   If the law cannot stop it from happening, there may not be a way to.

There is still one good way to try solving the issue of texting and driving.  The distracted driving website gives a pretty good solution to the problem.  The best way to end distracted driving is to educate all Americans about the danger it poses.  (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2016).  Texting is a visual distraction which causes the person to take their eyes off the road just long enough to raise the danger 23 times.  The statistics on the effects of texting and driving according to the Department of Transportation are an eye-opener to the issue.

This issue could be decreased if people would take this issue to heart.  To help bring further awareness to people, knowing who is all hurt may do just that.  The list of people hurt includes The person texting and driving, their parents, siblings, children (if any), Spouse (if applicable), friends, other driver or person hit, the victim’s family, children, parents, friends, spouse, and siblings.  “Ten percent of all drivers 15 to 19 years old involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted at the time of the crashes.”  (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2016).

When people are not going to take this seriously, such as the 75% of 1,000 people surveyed who admitted they still text and drive.  This lack of seriousness is what makes eliminating this problem that much harder.  According to a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute Study in 2009, texting while driving makes drivers 23 more likely to get into a “safety-critical event”.(Soltan, L., 2016).  Another part of the study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute revealed a shocking fact.  Driving at 55 mph and take your eyes off the road for the average time it takes to text, five seconds, you will have zoomed the length of a football field without looking at the road.  (Soltan, L., 2016).

The auto industry’s solution to this is to install collision warning systems and auto braking systems.  This raises the safety on the road, at least until the system fails.  These hope to eliminate the accidents caused by distracted driving as mentioned in an interview with IIHS President Adrian Lund.  (Hyde, J., 2010).  The information provided by the FCC gives even more perspective into providing information to help provide a solution.  The chart in figure 5 shows the information.

            There are questions about the other distractions that occur while driving.  Though there are many distractions, texting is the one that takes the eyes off the road more often.  Any amount of time removed from the road is too much time.  The other distractions should be addressed, but as they become the major problem.  Campaigning against distracted driving, in general, would bring awareness to each problem.  It is easier to get a message across to people when it is focused on one specific topic.

Texting and driving is the distraction that took the place of drunk driving.  Drunk driving is still an issue with drivers today, but has dropped enough to no longer be the bigger problem.  A study was done by the Cohen Children’s Medical Center, comparing drinking to texting.  “More than 3,000 teens die annually from texting while driving, compared to about 2,700 for driving under the influence.” (Edgin, 2013).  This study shows what is talked about in the interview with the IIHS president.  Getting rid of one distraction does appear to direct people towards other distractions.

As one distraction is eliminated, another one pops up.  All that can be done is to try to eliminate each issue as they come up.  There will always be something distracting people as they are driving down the road.  Some of these other distractions include putting on makeup, changing, eating, drinking coffee, singing with the music, changing the radio station and talking to passengers.  With all of these distractions, people wonder why there is no campaign to stop them from happening.

These other distractions do need to be addressed as well because any distraction adds risks.  However, think about how often you hear about this scenario:  “I was driving and eating when the jelly from my doughnut dropped on my lap.  So I went to wipe it up and that’s when I hit them.”  I am sure that this has been the case in some people’s situation.  As funny as it sounds, the newspaper is not going to have a headline that reads, “Accident Caused by Doughnut”.

People have shown to have the mindset of, “If they can do it, why can’t I?”  This contributes to the use of cell phones while driving.  Someone seeing another person using a phone while driving, they get the feeling that they should be able to as well.  Growing up with siblings, this has been an experience which occurred all too often.  The parents let one child stay up late and the other children feel they should be able to as well.

With the fair treatment mindset in place, drivers see others using a phone, they should be able to as well.  One thing that has been seen is police officers using their phones while driving.  Seeing the ones who are supposed to uphold the law, breaking it, how are we to expect others to follow it.  People who believe in the fair treatment rule will start using their phones because they see others doing it too.  Human nature is one explanation for this way of thinking.  Habits are hard to break when people don’t want to make the change.

An analogy that may help bring a new way to look way to look at this is a vehicle is a deadly projectile.  A bullet shot from a gun becomes an uncontrolled projectile that weighs less than half a pound.  When the control of a vehicle is lost it becomes a 1 to a 2-ton uncontrolled projectile.  Both of these projectiles will kill someone, but a vehicle is a bigger projectile has the potential to do more damage.  A bullet kills only one person, whereas a car kills multiple people at a time.

When looking at all the information that could be provided on each of the types of distractions there is so much that needs to be changed.  The reason one is focused on more than the others is that the major issues are what need to be taken care of immediately.  It is not that the other issues are not important.  It is the fact that one is causing more problems than the others.  It can be looked at as there is a paper cut on someone’s finger while another person has a thorn in their foot.  The severity of each determines which one needs more attention.  A paper cut heals itself and the thorn has to be pulled out.  Texting while driving is the thorn and the other distractions are the paper cut.

If you end up in a car, and the driver gets a text, stop them before they try to answer it.  No life is worth the few seconds it takes to send a text.  The information provided within this article is all based on statistical data, and surveys conducted by various offices.  There are analogies added to give some sense of understanding as well.  With the given information, hopefully, the awareness of this issue has been raised.  Whether or not the issue will be resolved is something which may never be discovered.  The information can only attempt to help give away to solving the issue.

When thinking about picking up a phone while driving, just think about the risk being taken.  Stop and imagine the possible outcomes from the decision that is being made.  Try to think about the consequences and who will all be hurt by the choice.  Remember the scenario that was read at the beginning.  There is no reason to become another story like the one provided.  The choice is made with the freedom to make it, but the results need to be taken into consideration as well.  The choice is ours to make.

References

FCC (2015) Dangers of Texting While Driving.  FCC.gov.  Retrieved from: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/dangers-texting-while-driving

Hyde, J. (2010).  Texting And Driving May Not Lead To More Crashes.  Retrieved from: http://jalopnik.com/5644967/texting-and-driving-may-not-lead-to-more-crashes

Soltan, L. (2016).  The Risks of Texting while Driving.  Digitalresponsibility.org.  Retrieved from: http://www.digitalresponsibility.org/risks-of-texting-while-driving/

U.S. Department of Transportation (2016).  “What is distracted driving?”.  Retrieved from: http://www.distraction.gov/stats-research-laws/facts-and-statistics.html

Worland, J. (2014). Why People Text And Drive Even When They Know It’s Dangerous. Time.com, N.PAG.  Retrieved from: http://time.com/3561413/texting-driving-dangerous/?iid=sr-link1

Reflection on Abortion:

I will be completely honest with you. I am not sure whether or not I am okay with abortion or against it. I will agree that this is a choice matter though I would never get an abortion…at least this is what I say now, but can I predict that in 5 years from now I will not have an abortion to save my life so that I may watch my children that I currently have grown up. The thought of abortion has never crossed my mind, I would hate for it to do so. I must admit that my views are totally confusing as for abortion because I have to agree with both points of views in the articles I had read

I grew up with my mom being completely okay with abortion and my father being against abortion. I believe that the values of both my parents are mixed in one.  I can say “abortion is wrong on so many levels….but how wrong is it, what if the mother does not want to give birth and then use adoption because by the time the baby is born and delivered after carrying it the bond starts to grow. “So why would a mother want to give up something she is bonded too….The mother convinces her that the abortion is right for both her and the unborn baby. We cannot force these women to give birth….as you see I have very different views they are both conflicts within each other.

In my honest opinion, it is really how the mother feels. She is the one who has to carry the baby and the one who must give birth to it. But on another note, it is wrong and some churches will disown someone who has had an abortion. But what about miscarriages? Isn’t a miscarriage another way of god performing an abortion? So if it is wrong for us to do it, why should do.

I have thought long and hard on the subject.  I had done my research to find out what other people’s views were. Why people were against it, and why people were okay with it. I have actually found similarities between both views on abortion and mine still remain indifferent on the subject.

I must admit I have not really employed any decision-making methods when making my decision and discovering my viewpoint. I really never thought that there was much to someone’s own personal viewpoint as to whether or not they had certain beliefs. Mine has always just been through, I do not know why or how I came up with those thoughts though.

I understand now why there are people for it as well as their reasons behind them. I agree with the reasoning’s behind why abortion should be okay.  Then you have the people against it, I understand and I agree with them as well. Like I said, my thoughts are very complicated on the subject. I agree with both sides as well as both reasoning’s behind abortion being both okay and not okay.

Abortion Topic:

I had chosen abortion as my topic. My second project topic submission will mention mainly where I stand on abortion and why. I am anti-abortion by my ethical values and opinions so I would signalize why as well as speaking of other options out there and families who might actually be interested in having children because the way I look at it. The child did not ask to be conceived any more then you asked for that child in the case of an unwanted pregnancy.

My values on abortion stand very strong, I do believe that my moral values on abortion may have been influenced by own religious upbringing as well as my father’s views.  My mother had a completely different view on it, but more often than not I always agreed with my dad, being a daddy’s girl, I believe did influence my values on abortion.

This is what I would like to touch on most, is that my ethical views were based on my upbringing as well as whom I was close to and who I wanted to please the most out of my parents. I am not sure what influences my dad’s choice in this matter, but I do know religion might be a factor in it. I can question him about it since I know his beliefs have somewhat influenced mine while yet I took on a different path in a sense and developed my own individual thoughts on the matter.

I believe that children are influenced by parents they are closer to, religion, and even their own upbringing. My choice of multiple different subjects has also been influenced by my peers as well and I believe this may very well play a part in it. There are a number of different reasons why someone’s views would be influenced.  This is going to be my main topic when speaking on the subject of abortion is what I grew up around in church, in my home life, as well as what my friends believe, because I feel that this influences ethical values when it comes down to subjects like abortion or anything else that deals with a controversial topic.

Concept Development:

The analysis of my audience will be people who like decorations.  I intend doing the studio quality shots of decorations, like figurines. I have different types on my entertainment center, figurines of dragons, stuff I ordered to show my love for the world of Warcraft and even some other decorations that you cannot find anymore. I would be pretending that my client was a store, wanting to put these images up in their website or in a catalog for sale.

The purpose of my desired message is that “no matter what you like, there is always something for you as for decorating your home. Letting some life in with just a few decorations” I see some people who say “There are never any decorations for me” and when I ask what they like they say “well, dragons.” so then I go and find exactly what they are looking for. Like in Virginia beach there is a store called Dragon’s Lair that I would send them to and they would find something they like there, or a Barbie collector, or gamers…they even have decorations for all sorts of things and I would love to portray this to everyone, because you have no idea how many times I hear “I want this…but can’t find it” and then I find it for them and tell them where they can get it.

The style I would actually like to play with, I have no set ideas on this yet, but I am thinking something sort of medieval for both the style and the theme. I would actually really like to play with this, using same objects different themes to see what just kind of pops out and looks better. But if I need to choose a set theme and style I would say I would go with something medieval or colonial.

I know I have touched on a view different subjects, but I really wanted to make sure I had a good decent 3000-word post for you. I’ll have these periodically 🙂 What would you like to see in the future? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you.