“Keep Your Eyes on the Road”
Every driver believes that they will never be involved in an accident because they are perfect and safe drivers. Most drivers feel they can perform more than one task and be able to have their mind completely focused on driving, at the same time. Millions of drivers attempt to take their eyes off the road for a few seconds to text, talk on the phone, eat, or even fix their hair when they drive. These drivers don’t realize that just for one second not having their eyes on the road can get them into or cause an accident.
Over the years, many drivers have put other people and even themselves in danger as a result of performing other tasks while being behind the wheel. They might be eating, reading a map or newspaper, talking on the phone, or texting, which is the main issue in our society today. In 2010, the Massachusetts Safe Driving Law was put into effect to ban sending or reading text messages and ban cell phone use for junior operators under age 18 while driving. According to the Telegram and Gazette, “the state has 4.7 million licensed drivers, between September 30, 2010, when the law went into effect, and June 30 this year, 831 citations were issued statewide for texting, according to the state Registry of Motor Vehicles. Another 413 citations were issued for improper use of a mobile device while driving and 46 were for junior drivers using a cellphone” (Spencer). Though the law was put into effect, many people try to hide that they are texting as mention in the Telegram and Gazette, “Often, a driver who is texting will have the phone in his or her lap or on the seat, so it’s hard to detect from the outside” (Spencer).
Every day so many minor accidents occur as a result of people not paying attention while they drive. Just this year I was involved in two rear ended accidents that the drivers thought I have accelerated. The first accident the driver was eating and the second accident the driver didn’t see me letting a pedestrian cross the street. Both of these accidents could have been easily avoided. In some tragic situations loved ones have been notified that their son or daughter has been killed by a distracted driver. Most of these victims could have been safely driving to their destination and out of nowhere they tried to dodge the dangerous oncoming car. Many of these innocent drivers lose their control and end up seriously injured or tragically died. Every driver should think of their safety and the safety of others.
Some drivers that get distracted behind the wheel were never in a major accident and will continue to do the same. Every age group gets distracted; it’s not just the experienced drivers or just the new. Every driver should be aware of their surrounds and be cautious. No one is a perfect driver. As Police Chief Warchol mentions in Telegram and Gazette “We’re role models in the community and it’s not good procedure for anyone to be (texting or making phone call)” (Spencer), we are role models to others. We must be the leading examples to others to stop not just texting and driving, but other distractions behind the wheel. Eliminating all distractions from the driver’s way, will allow driver’s to focus on the road.
Massachusetts government should come up with striker laws to eliminate the distractions behind the wheel, especially the use of cell phones. Police officers should suspend the driver’s license for a month if he/she finds that the driver has been distracted behind the wheel. If the same driver is stopped another time, the driver’s license should be suspended for two years and so on to learn the consequences. During their time of suspension the driver should attend a driver’s safety class to learn the harmful consequences of being distracted behind the wheel. All distractions should be removed from the driving instructor’s car when new students begin to drive. No other student should use their cell phones while another student is driving. Driving students should learn how all distractions are dangerous and these should be strictly taught. The stricter the laws, the stronger the chance to eliminate the distractions while driving. Strictly enforcing the laws will not cost money. The benefit of this proposal is that the streets will be safe for drivers to drive. Keeping your eyes on the road for every second will keep you aware of what is happening and it will keep you in control.
Post Write:
- I feel that I stated a very important issue in our community. Most of the people in Massachusetts drive and many people get distracted by things in the car. So many accidents happen every day because people are distracted at the wheel.
- I still need to give more detail to the cost of the solution to my proposal. I stated that there is no cost to enforcing the laws.
- 1) Is the issue and solution to the proposal clearly stated?
2) Does my proposal have an impact (on the reader)?
Work Cited (bibliography):
Spencer, Susan. “Not getting the message: Effect of texting law still hard to assess.” Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts). 18 October 2011, News: A1. LexisNexis Academic. Mon.7 Nov. 2011.
Hi Melanie:
ReplyDeleteYou have a good, clear statement of problem. And you provide good evidence as to the seriousness of the problem.
I do sense the need to spend more time with solutions, as you put them all into one paragraph. I'm also unclear as to what is new here and what is already required by the law on texting while driving. You need to make clear as well as to analyze the costs of your proposals.
You will need also to indicate your intended reader, right?
Still, I see promise here.
in which the drivers thought I had accelerated: ccidents that the drivers thought I have accelerated.
In the first accident: The first accident the driver
edit for comma splice: (Spencer), we are role models
edit for spelling: striker laws
who is your intended reader? will keep you aware of what is happening and it will keep you in control.
Capitalize beginning of quotation? “the state
Good MLA form: Spencer, Susan. “Not getting the message: Effect of texting law still hard to assess.” Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts). 18 October 2011, News: A1. LexisNexis Academic. Mon.7 Nov. 2011.
Talk Back:
ReplyDelete- I provide a good clear statement of the problem in my proposal. I also give good evidence of how major the issue is. I need to add more information to my solutions. You are not sure what I am suggesting as a solution and what laws already exist. I need to make that clear and I need to analysis the costs of my solutions. I also need to indicate the intended reader. I should correct the errors I have made. I had a good MLA format to my works cited.
- I believe I mentioned who are the intended readers of my proposal. In my proposal I stated “Every age group gets distracted; it’s not just the experienced drivers or just the new. Every driver should be aware of their surrounds and be cautious. No one is a perfect driver” in paragraph four beginning with the second sentence. My intention of including this sentence was to get every driver to keep their eyes on the road. I don’t know if this was unclear in my writing?
- A lesson that I have learned and I can transfer to other assignments is making sure my writing is clear. I did not clearly analysis the costs of my solutions. I can also transfer the element of adding more detail to my writing. In my proposal, I only provided one paragraph for my solutions, letting the information being too broad.