Evaluation of Whether Florida Does Enough to Prevent Distracted Driving

Cell phones along with many other things are distracting drivers from paying attention and may be the cause of your death. Distraction while driving is a weapon that causes an unimaginable amount of deaths per year. Moreover, Florida is the 41st state to eliminate texting while driving. Unfortunately, unlike the majority of those states, the law is a secondary offense. In addition to that, calling while driving is still allowed and a ticket can’t be written unless the officer witnesses other violations. By all means, the state does not have a law preventing phone use for talking which is one of the main causes of distracted driving.

Therefore, these facts along with many more are the reason why the state of Florida does not do enough to prevent distracted driving. People’s death could’ve and still can be prevented if only the usage of phones while driving was against the law in the state of Florida. Deaths caused by distracted drivers increases more and more everyday. Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, such as talking or texting on your phone. In fact, studies show that drivers who are talking on the phone while driving are four times more likely to get into an accident than people who are not talking on the phone. Even though some may say that the hand-free calling systems are safer, that’s misleading and incorrect because what causes the distraction is not the hands not being on the wheel but the individual’s mental focus indeed. Driving is most definitely a privilege, along with freedom. For this reason, high mental alertness, selective attention, and extreme focus are demanded when it comes to driving. In that case, Florida should set a law that prevents phone usage while driving and that allows officials to pull people over and give them a ticket in case they see you.

Furthermore, in the state of Florida about 11 teenagers are killed everyday by drivers who are texting and driving and about 25% of car accidents are caused by distracted driving. In 2015 alone, 391,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers. Not to mention, approximately 660,000 drivers use cell phones while driving. Moreover, according to statistics, distracted driving crashes have increased 26 percent since 2013. As a result, it creates an enormous potential for deaths and injuries on U.S. roads. Even with these statistics running through their minds, Florida has yet to take charge and teach teenagers the dangers of distracted driving. Although the law states that a person cannot operate a motor vehicle while typing and/or viewing a wireless device, a police officer cannot issue a ticket without him/her witnessing other violations along with it. To summarize, Florida does not do enough to prevent distracted driving because calling while driving is still allowed and regulations are very limited. People are being killed everyday due to other people’s distractions while driving. As a matter of fact, humanity nowadays believe that their phones are more important than the steering wheel, which causes them to lose control and getting into fatal crashes.

Therefore, the state of Florida should try to administer and regulate the roads more. Additionally, they should also make a greater effort in trying to stop distracted drivers from being on these roads because not only are they putting their lives at risk, but many more lives as well. After all, it’s believed that some simple regulatory laws will put a stop to the increase of fatalities caused by distracted drivers.

Does our state prevent distracted driving?

Florida is one out of the 41 states that has added a law that officially declared that in their state it is prohibited to text while behind the wheel of a vehicle. Florida and 41 other states have taken action in upgrading their state , by prevailing in having fewer accidents in the state of Florida. I see eye to eye with the people wanting to have a stronger law but Florida is also in the process of accomplishing this wish for the residents. In my opinion I feel more on having a more stronger and effective law. In this lesson we had a choice to choose between two questions; whether or not our state is doing anything to prevent distracted driving or if a public service announcement (PSA) helps reduce the number of distracted driving incidents. I choose the question: Does our state prevent distracted driving? The state of Florida does help prevent distracted driving by passing a law along with many other states, that even though Florida did pass this law this states that technically you cannot get pulled over or a consequence for distracted driving unless you are making another offense.

Everyone is always on the go making the highways busier and busier every day. It's not how it was back in the day,but now-a-days it’s all technology being produced which has made a huge impact on society today. Texting while driving seems to be the most distraction for people behind the wheel that especially in teens. The state of Florida thought they might have an issue on their hands with distracted driving so, they did what 37 other states did. Of course their law is going to be different than others by stating in order to get a consequence for this offense you first must be making 2 offenses. By that meaning you have to make a secondary offense and it goes for all drivers that are texting while behind the wheel. Although there may be a law on distracted driving in the state of Florida, is it being enforced and has it even decreased the number of accidents that led to distracted driving?

You may wonder is there anymore to this? Of course there is. In addition this may lead to some civilians living in distressed of others breaking the law, resulting in an accident, and having innocent people lose their lives over a simple text message that could have waited. The problem is some locals want to create a more improved on-going, and stronger law, which is understanding but Florida is doing the best they can do at the moment to help prevent texting and driving.Therefore, allowing this sunshine state to have highways with drivers that will not cause harm to their surroundings. I agree with citizens wanting to have a much stronger law but Florida is also in the process of accomplishing this wish for residents. I personally think that officially declaring a law against texting and driving is much more exceptional than not having a law at all.