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HSFPP Update # 195—Is It Dangerous to Use Your Cell Phone and Text While Driving?

Message from Flashman: This is our first update for 2008. One of our goals with these updates is to provide timely information. Another goal is to show how schools and 4-H Extension are relevant and beneficial to teenagers. Part of the reason for going to school is to learn “the Three Rs,” but school and 4-H are also about picking up life skills.

De’ja’s follow-up activity (below) would be a great one for English classes to do. Journalism classes might want to write up a story on the subject, referencing the original New York Times story, for your school newspaper.

 

Message from De’ja:

My name is De’ja Hall and I am a sophomore at the University of Kentucky. Freshman year my major was “Undecided,” and it wasn’t until I took FAM 252 (Introduction to the Family Sciences) that I realized what my passion really is. Helping people is something that I have always wanted to do and, after taking that class and understanding that the goal of Family and Consumer Sciences is to help families and consumers live well, I knew this was the major for me. So this fall I declared Family and Consumer Sciences as my major. Not only am I interested in helping people of all ages, but I also feel it is something that I can succeed with and that this major will assist me in doing so.

I will be working on HSFPP updates and video lessons, as well as on updating subscriber e-mail addresses. With the recent change in teachers’ e-mail addresses, we know that many subscribers are not receiving our e-mails, and I will help see that they can receive them again. If you know of anyone who hasn’t received their updates and video lessons lately, but still wants them, please let Alex know. His e-mail is alesueur@email.uky.edu.

 

Note to Educators in Kentucky: This week’s update corresponds to the academic expectations listed below.

Academic Expectation 2.13
Students understand and appropriately use statistics and probability.
Unit 2-6

Academic Expectation 2.29
Students demonstrate skills that promote individual well-being and healthy family relationships.
(Program material addresses risky behavior and its impact on teens)

Academic Expectation 2.31
Students demonstrate the knowledge and skills they need to remain physically healthy and to accept responsibility for their own physical well-being.
(Program material addresses the impact of risky behavior particularly related to automobile driving)

 

Web Site Pick of the Week:

http://www.autosafety.org/

The Center for Auto Safety’s Web site provides information on everything related to vehicle safety, including recalls, safety features, and current laws.

 

In the New$... Is It Dangerous to Use Your Cell Phone and Text While Driving?

by Robert H. Flashman, Ph.D., University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service

Did you know that it is dangerous to text while you drive? The American Automobile Association and Channel 36 TV in Lexington, with help from students from Henry Clay High School in Lexington, recently demonstrated the hazards of texting while driving. They first drove a course of driving cones without any outside distractions, and then tried the same course while texting. Not surprisingly, the students drove much worse while trying to send a text message.

Most of us are more familiar with the hazards of talking on the phone while driving. Adults as well as teenage drivers are guilty of this, and several states have passed laws restricting or banning use of cell phones while driving. Also, research is finding that hands-free sets may not be any safer than handheld cell phones, as the demands of carrying on a phone conversation can be enough to distract drivers and slow their reaction times. This can be especially hazardous for inexperienced teenage drivers, who also report being distracted by friends in the car and by their own emotional states.

The largest group who text and drive are between the ages of 18 to 34 years of age and make up 64% percent of texting drivers; however, those most likely to be distracted by technological gadgets were between Ages 16 and 20. Teens Today survey conducted by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) showed that teens considered sending text messages via cell phones to be their biggest distraction while driving.

It should go without saying that looking down to compose or check text messages takes the driver’s attention away from the road, where it should be.

A telling statistic is provided by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, whose study released in April 2006 “found that almost 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds of the event.” (Insurance Information Institute)

Is talking on the phone or texting while driving worth the risk of having an accident? Driving a car is the most dangerous activity most people undertake in their daily lives, and anything that distracts a driver should be avoided. A good example of other distractions that are more likely to cause accidents is provided by my oldest daughter, who had her driver’s license for less than three months and had an accident. She was listening to the radio and talking to a passenger in the front seat while driving to the mall. She was taking a left turn into the mall parking lot following cars in front of her and did not see the light had changed. The car coming from the other direction could not brake quickly enough because it was raining, and the driver hit the rear door on the passenger side of her car, pushing her car into another car leaving the mall. She was lucky both cars hit the rear doors and no one was hurt in any of the three cars. The insurance company, however, classified the car as a total loss because repairs would have cost more than the vehicle’s then-current market value. She did not have the funds to replace the car and learned the hard way how easy it is to be distracted; she no longer had a car to drive to school.

If you need to use a cell phone, read a map, or do anything else that would distract you, pull over first. Few drivers are able to multitask, so you need to put your full attention on driving; otherwise you will increase the likelihood of becoming involved in a crash. Paying attention when driving could save you thousands of dollars in increased insurance premiums and, more importantly, could save your life or the lives of others.

Sources: “Do You Text While You Drive?” Blue Grass Auto Club Safety Foundation, in Journeys (American Automobile Association), Jan. / Feb., 2008.

“Cell Phones and Driving,” Insurance Information Institute, October 2007. http://www.iii.org/media/hottopics/insurance/cellphones/

“Cell Phones and driving,” in Hot Topics & Issues Updates, Insurance Information Institute, May 2007. http://www.iii.org/media/hottopics/insurance/cellphones/

 

Discussion Questions:

1.) Do you or any of your friends use a cell phone while driving? Yes ___  No ___

 

2.) Do you think using a cell phone while driving affects the driver’s concentration and focus on the road? Yes ___  No ___ Explain reason.

 

3.) Why do you think people feel they need to send and check text messages while driving?

 

4.) If it is really so urgent to send or receive a text message, why don’t people pull over to the side of the road to do it?

 

5.) Because real students were involved in the road tests here in Lexington, does that change your mind about feeling safe texting while driving? Or do you think these reports are an overreaction? Explain your reasons.

 

6.) Should Kentucky have a law prohibiting anyone (regardless of age) from using a cell phone while driving? Yes ___  No ___ Explain reason.

 

7.) Why do you think more states have not enacted laws against cell phone use in cars?

 

Activity for Students:

Read “Do U Txt Whl Drvng?” Readers’ Comments, New York Times Blog. http://news.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/do-u-txt-whl-drvng/

Select three different people’s point of views. Then explain why you do or don’t agree with what they say.

 

Kentucky High School Financial Planning Program

http://www.ca.uky.edu/fcs/hsfp

The purpose of the HSFPP financial updates, video lessons, and Web site is to assist county Extension agents, credit union educators, high school teachers, and parents who home school their teenagers so that they may improve the economic well-being of our teenagers; and also to show educators how the HSFPP, updates, and video lessons meet Kentucky core concepts. The Web site, updates, and video lessons are provided by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, and are free to all educators. The list of core concepts and order form for free program materials including the student guide and instructors manual can be found on the Kentucky HSFPP home page.

If you are not already on our listserv:

The video lessons are available only to members of our listserv and will not be posted to the HSFPP Web site because of the timeliness of the information. If you would like to receive our video lessons, which are sent to our listserv biweekly, on alternate weeks from these updates, please sign up at the following page of our Web site: http://www.ca.uky.edu/fcs/HSFP/response.htm.