Eng 105 Assignment: Using Phone While Driving Is A Distraction Or Not

Student’s Name
Instructor’s Name
Course
Date Submitted
Using phone while driving is a distraction or not
The use of technology products such as mobile phones and cars has gained popularity over recent times. Particularly, smartphones have become addictive such that their users do not want to put them away when performing tasks including driving. On its own, driving is a task that requires maximum concentration of the driver to ensure safety. However, drivers are increasingly ignoring this requirement by engaging in either texting or making and receiving calls when driving. This is attributed to the need of responding to emergency calls, saving time while communicating and avoiding boredom while driving. Additionally, most of the people who engage in phoning while driving have arrived at their destination without any harm. Although this can be safe to some extent, it does not guarantee 100% safety of the persons involved. This is evidenced by the increased car crashes that have recently occurred over the same. Using the phone while driving divides the attention of the drivers and distracts them from achieving high performance while driving. It also lowers their ability to make a proper judgment while driving and could result in accidents that could have otherwise been avoided. As such, the use of phoning and driving are tasks which should not be encouraged since they will overlap the mind of their user. Accordingly, this paper proves that the use of phones while driving is a distraction.
Driving in itself is an activity which requires maximum concentration from an individual. However, there are situations where the driver is required to give about 60% concentration on driving. These cases involve driving on roads which are not busy and driving at night on roads which the user is very familiar with. With such clear roads, an individual may not be required to focus on the road fully. As such, they may be required to engage in other activities that would keep them busy and protect them from activities associated with boredom such as sleep (Walsh et al. 6). Moreover, the ability to perform many tasks at ago enables an individual to perform both primary and secondary tasks at the same time. This implies that an individual may drive as well as use their phone at the same time. Such situations prove that phoning while driving is not a distraction as it would not have any impact on the performance of either task. This belief has been evidenced by research which proves that most people have arrived at their destinations safely despite using phones (Mello & Shane, 22). Consequently, driving can be done alongside any other task such as texting and receiving calls without the driver being necessarily distracted.
On the other hand, there has been recent evidence of distracted driving attributed to the use of phones. According to the National Centre for Statistic and Analysis, about six people are killed on a daily basis and 1000 others injured due to phoning while driving. Such a situation would have been avoided if the victim, particularly the driver, restrained from using their phones while driving. Using mobile phones while driving increases one’s chances of being involved in a crash because their attention becomes divided and ultimately their performance level is lowered. A driver may use their phones for text or make calls. While making calls, they can choose to place the phones on their ear or put the other respondent on a loudspeaker. The latter option is better since it enables an individual to divide attention while allocating their driving part more attention appropriately. However, this may not be the case since the driver does not always decide where to concentrate their attention fully. Texting is worse than making or receiving calls since it combines three types of distraction (Nijboer et al. 4). Texting involves; cognitive, manual and visual distractions. This implies that it can take away the drivers attention from driving, take their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road respectively. In turn, the driver ends up not being aware of the existing situation within his or her surroundings. Ultimately, phoning while driving has proved to be a distraction.
Developments in technology have made it easy for drivers to navigate through the road easily (Yoon, 2). As time goes by, manufacturers can design products that are suitable for their product market. This is because it is the consumers who dictate the developments in the products which they use. Accordingly, the current trend is that majority of the drivers use phones while driving. To address this trend, car manufacturers are using advancements in technology to develop vehicles which require the drivers to pay less attention to the road (Sielinou, 3). Once the driver has the option of paying little attention to the road while driving, they can use their phone in the process. As such, current innovations in the vehicle industry have made phoning while driving not to be considered as a distraction. For instance; the adaptive cruise control in automated cars can automatically adjust the speed of the car using the radar. This speed is adjusted such that it matches the speed of the car in front to avoid adverse incidents such as accidents. In essence, this implies that drivers who take advantage of this kind of technology are assured of safety even if they use their phones while driving. Consequently, they can make calls or text while driving without being distracted.
There is an existing general belief which indicates that driving cannot be done alongside other activities without affecting the performance of the driver. This belief was supported by earlier evidence from authors such as Strayer (Strayer & Frank, 1). However, the recent research seeks to counter this belief by providing evidence on multitasking particularly while driving. Most human beings are endowed with the talent of doing more than one task at a time. In fact, multitasking is believed to boost the concentration of an individual. When in the right state of mind, individuals can multitask without the quality of performance being affected. This is th...