Hold The Ban: Prevention Of Texting While Driving

People across the US are aware not to text and drive based on how dangerous it is for you and other drivers, yet they still do it. An article released by The Arizona Republic writes that Doug Ducey signed a bill on April 22 which involves a statewide ban on texting and driving in Arizona. This bill was introduced in the past though it was rejected until now. The death of a police officer caused by this practice resulted in lawmakers proposing the bill again, which was successful. Texting and driving in San Luis can be a threat to you and other drivers, but to what extent? How much of an issue do you think texting and driving is at San Luis Arizona? Involving this ban in San Luis won’t be necessary because accidents aren’t a huge issue, it won’t be effective in preventing this practice, and drivers are aware of the texting and driving threats.

Given that teenagers are common targets to the whole texting and driving situation, why would they participate in this practice? Dr. Jess P. Shatkin, child and adolescent psychiatrist and pediatrics, proves that “Adolescents are engineered for risk-taking behavior [even though they] don’t generally intend to get into trouble.” Shatkin explains that adolescents think they are invincible, so they are likely to text and drive because of their dopamine. The reason the reward center activates is because of non-family peers, like friends. Peer-pressure on a teen driver can increase the likelihood of him/her to text and drive, also becoming a threat to other drivers and pedestrians. Teens know that they can cause an accident and be in trouble for texting behind the wheel, but it’s being socially accepted by peers that can discourage safety.

Millennials, on the other hand are different, they are more responsible for not giving in to peer pressure to text and drive which is good news. Teens are the ones that often text and drive, but millennials can outnumber them. According to Gail B. Stewart’s book on distracted driving, she introduces a survey done by AT&T which reveals that 49% of adults (millennials in this case) think that texting and driving is wrong, though they are being hypocritical and do it anyways. A statistic from a different source reveals that 68 percent of males and 32 percent of females text and drive in the US, however; 79 percent of millennials surpass Gen X (15%) and Baby Boomers (6%) with this practice. It appears as if millennials are the generation who do the most texting and driving than teens than other generations. As if millennials don’t worry much about the consequences based on how experienced they are on driving, especially males since they are more likely to partake in risky behavior than females.

This may be an assumption but perhaps these two generations trust their ability to drive while texting. Based on observations, these drivers are confident with their ability to text and drive, so they trust themselves to be safe while on the ride. This may not be the case for all of them since most drivers worry about the consequences. A survey done by Arizona Western College students supports this lack of trust in driving because 18 out of 27 survey-takers don’t trust themselves to text and drive. They fear the consequences that are given to them like fines, injuries, or death. This practice could cause a domino effect if one isn’t careful with their driving. Even though I barely know how to drive, I don’t trust myself to text and drive since I don’t have the expertise for this practice. I don’t want to cause and/or be involved in accidents or get killed by this bad decision.

An interview conducted with Sergeant Jose Ramirez of the San Luis Police Department shares his thoughts about texting and driving in San Luis and the statewide ban. First, he demonstrates that texting and driving in very problematic in San Luis since he notices drivers using their phones or putting them away while on his patrol duties. The rates of San Luis citizens texting and driving are high though the rates of accidents are low. Most of these drivers are Millennials and not teenagers since people from Generation Z has limited driving experience or they barely earned their licenses. The reason millennials are the ones who are seen to be doing this practice is that this generation either doesn’t care about the consequences. Millennials are more hypocritical than teens when it comes to texting and driving, both know it’s against the law, but they practice it as if they think the police won’t notice them hiding their phones.

It would seem unusual or perhaps ridiculous to say that texting and driving aren’t causing many accidents, considering that most of the US have statewide bans. The addition of smartphones and driving can raise red flags on the road which will then lead to the punishments, accidents and/or deaths. Although It’s fair to point out that before the statewide ban, Arizona lawmakers targeted bans at specific cities like Phoenix and Tucson because texting and driving related accidents are high. San Luis wasn’t one of the targets since the situation is very minor however, there is a law against the practice. The same can be said with other cities in Arizona with low accidents rates from the practice.

San Luis is a small city, meaning there aren’t many car accidents as with large cities in Arizona. There can be driving errors like blocking other drivers when swerving on an intersection or driving velocity. These errors can lead to close calls or perhaps an accident. However, there aren’t many texting and driving related accidents that occur in the city. Based on my experiences, the news, and my peers, most car accidents in San Luis occur from driving under influence. Like the two multiple vehicle collusions that happened during the night caused by drunk driving. There aren’t any texting and driving accidents that show up on the media released by the San Luis Police Department website. Three out of the five accidents from the media releases from 2016 to the present involve DUIs while the other two could have other factors. It seems as if driving under influence causes more accidents than texting and driving, plus the media releases show that the San Luis police conduct a lot of DUI saturation and enforcement patrols from 2017 to the present.

From the surface, a texting and driving ban can be effective since it’s a law and lawmakers and authority figures expect citizens to follow them to discourage this practice. However, there will be ways for the enforcement of this ban to become difficult. Law enforcers admit that spotting a driver who texts behind the wheel can be difficult since the driver’s phone is hidden from the enforcer’s sight. Certain observations can prove this since there are drivers in San Luis who texted behind the wheel and didn’t get pulled over. Another problem that can arise with enforcing this law is that a percentage of teens and millennials won’t follow this law. For example, the Arizona teen Karen Cordova confesses that she sometimes texts her friends while driving. Reason being that she texts to cure her boredom and loneliness when driving home from her part-time job at a supermarket.

She once had a close-call with oncoming traffic and she’s aware that texting and driving is illegal in Phoenix, a city where texting and driving was already banned before the bill was passed. Karen states that no one will listen to a texting and driving ban because it won’t stop people from doing it, not even her and her friends. Even former Arizona governor Jan Brewer supports this argument because she proves that making laws sometimes don’t make a lot of difference, people won’t be following them. What can be gained from this is that a portion of San Luis’s teens and millennials would do the same, thus making the ban lose its effectiveness and the practice continues. Although the AWC survey says otherwise, 16 people think that the texting and driving ban will be effective to end texting and driving because it’s a law and people are afraid when they break it. Having this fear is understandable because of the consequences, but there’s a bigger picture to look at. This is a behavior that teens and millennials enjoy doing at certain times so they would avoid the law for their entertainment. Perhaps these two generations aren’t encouraged to focus on the road and not their smartphones.

People have seen the message anti-texting and driving throughout the news, social media, and advertisements for quite some time. Like billboards that distract drivers to send a message about a method of distracted driving or public service announcements. The citizens of San Luis are aware of these messages because they are being educated to keep the community safe. Given the very low accidents in San Luis, an assumption can be made that citizens can be aware of the dangers of texting and driving and the positive outcomes that can come from them, According to the AWC survey, five people disagree to the fact that the citizens of San Luis aren’t conscious about the practice’s cautions. Although, these five people are being overshadowed by the ones who do agree. This isn’t much of a surprise since there is safe driving going on because the dangers are in driver’s minds.

However, the five people could be referring to certain outcomes that drivers have when texting behind the wheel. Sgt. Ramirez mentions that drivers who text and drive are likely to have slow reactions like failing to halt at stop signs or speed-up since the drivers aren’t paying attention. This can also be the case with people from San Luis Mexico who drive in this city. Sgt. Ramirez has mentioned that the people from Mexico aren’t aware of Arizona’s driving laws which can create dilemmas. The driving laws in Mexico could be different, so there is less knowledge for those drivers when crossing the border. Luckily the San Luis PD can inform the public about their driving laws through their Facebook page, city website, or the news which increases the awareness. The knowledge from the San Luis citizens is passed to people outside of the city to promote safe driving within the area.

I experienced my first texting and driving situation a few years ago and the experience was quite interesting. My older brother and I were going to do some errands in our hometown. While on our trip, my older brother took out his cellphone and started texting. I got nervous because he’s not keeping his eyes on the road, plus becoming a danger to other drivers. However, he looked like he was confident in his ability to drive so he continues. I noticed that he has quick reactions while driving to keep the vehicle under control. I wasn’t sure if I should tell him if something was about to happen or not because of this. For some reason, I gave him the chance to text and drive unless something major was about to happen. Along the way, there was one late reaction to straighten his vehicle though it wasn’t major.

After the trip, the same thing would happen on our future errands in San Luis and in Yuma and there were no accidents involved. What I have observed from this is his quick reactions and his responsibility on whether to text and drive at certain times. I can say the same thing when my brother is looking for a phone number and searching for a song to listen to. With that said, I do trust him to text and drive. Sometimes I would have to write and send the messages or emails because they are long. He takes his responsibility while being on the road, even with my niece and/or nephew on board his vehicle. I also want to mention that he doesn’t use his phone a lot when he drives.

The use of children and teens can be an effective hook to cause a change if the facts support it. With texting and driving, worried parents using the death or tragic accident of their child can convince lawmakers to act upon this situation and figure out a solution. Parents would worry if their children are being victims of texting and driving. The AWC survey demonstrates that teens and millennials would be worried if children are on a vehicle when the driver is texting. The same can be said if the teen or millennial was in the children’s place, the driver taking out their phone when driving and becoming a threat. This proves that these two generations are conscious of the dangers from this practice, they worry about their safety and the safety for others, especially children. Perhaps these generations remind each other to put the phone down along the drive so that they aren’t visited by any unfortunate events.

If for some reason there are many texting and driving accidents in San Luis and there will be preparation to preventing these outcomes from occurring, what can be done? Educating of course, although that is also part of the problem to why texting and driving is still around. Even though San Luis citizens have been taught about the dangers from practice, it’s not strong enough to convince people to stop doing it. Many of the advertisements we see doesn’t seem to stick with the teens and millennials who do this practice. If the dangers of texting and driving won’t convince the teens and millennials, the best thing to do is to educate them using the positive outcomes of avoiding the practice.

The promotion of using positive effects of not texting behind the wheel could be the solution to the problem San Luis is facing. Jessica Mirman, a behavioral researcher at the center of Injury Research and Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, addresses that adults should reiterate 'the positive effects of staying off the phone while driving as opposed to the negative effects…' (Dotinga). Since the negative doesn’t seem to cause a change, attempting to use the benefits of having the will-power to not text behind the wheel can work. Shatkin supports Jessica’s statement since he explains how using the positive effects can encourage adolescents to not get into risky behavior. It seems that this is a new direction that authority figures and adults should take into consideration when teaching teens and millennials. Creating PSAs and advertisements that take this direction (if they’re executed well) could convince a considerable amount of teen and millennial drivers to focus more on the road than their phone. The positive effects of avoiding texting and driving will come with benefits that can impact these two generations from checking their text messages. For example, a teen using a car again if he/she doesn’t get fined from texting and driving If this was implied in San Luis then texting and driving would become a minor issue here, or perhaps a thing of the past if it has a greater impact.

Most of the teens and millennials in San Luis are smart enough to avoid this driving behavior. Even if it’s not a huge issue here, it doesn’t hurt to try the positive method of education to find out how these two generations are convinced to worry about their safety and lives. Plus, one year or two is enough time to experiment with this educational method to see how effective it will be to people in and outside of San Luis. If the texting and driving rates in the city drop with this tactic, then that demonstrates that a statewide ban wasn’t necessary to control the situation in San Luis. Who knows, it could work for the whole state of Arizona if this type of education is given a chance.

Works Cited

Dotinga, Randy. 'Cell Phones Increase the Dangers for Teen Drivers.' Teen Driving, edited by Mary E. Williams, Greenhaven Press, 2014, pp. 20-23. Introducing Issues with Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Virtual Reference Library, galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3198300010/GVRL?u=yumacl_main&sid=GVRL&xid=b873ba78

Douglas, David M., “Distracted Driving: Dying to Text You.” Issues in Information Systems

Vol. 13, Issue 1, pp.275-283, 2012, iacis.org, iacis.org/iis/2012/62_iis_2012_275-283.pdf

“Media Releases.” San Luis Police Department, www.sanluispolice.org/media-release/. Accessed 20 April 2019.

Shatkin, Jess P. “Born to be Wild: Why Teens Take Risks, and How we Can Help Keep Them Safe”, TarcherPerigee, 2017, pp 4-5, 101-102, 128-129

Stewart, Gail B., “Cell Phones and Distracted Driving”, Cell Phones and Society, Reference Point Press, 2015

Whitcomb, Dan. 'Teens Ignore Laws to Curb Texting While Driving.' Risky Teen Behavior, edited by Heidi Watkins, Greenhaven Press, 2012, pp. 75-79. Issues That Concern You. Gale Virtual Reference Library, galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX4023200016/GVRL?u=yumacl_main&sid=GVRL&xid=3292f54b.