Paige Barnes

Outline
Thesis: Do you ever think about the danger you are causing every time you check your phone
while driving? Well federal laws are not doing enough to prevent texting and driving today in
America.
1. Laws
A. Hand-held Cell Phone Use: 14 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands
prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cell phones while driving. All are primary
enforcement lawsan officer may cite a driver for using a hand-held cell phone without
any other traffic offense taking place.
B. All Cell Phone Use: No state bans all cell phone use for all drivers, but 38 states and D.C.
ban all cell phone use by novice drivers, and 20 states and D.C. prohibit it for school bus
drivers.
C. Text Messaging: Washington was the first state to pass a texting ban in 2007. Currently, 46
states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all
drivers. All but 5 have primary enforcement.
D. Hand-held Cell Phone Use Ban: 14 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin
Islands prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cell phones while driving.
E. All Cell Phone ban: No state bans all cell phone use for all drivers, but 37 states and D.C.
ban all cell phone use by novice or teen drivers, and 20 states and D.C. prohibit any cell
phone use for school bus drivers.
F. Text Messaging Ban: 46 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban
text messaging for all drivers.
2. Statistics
A. 11 teens die every day as a result of texting and driving.
B. According to an AAA pole 94% of teen drivers know the danger of texting and driving.
C. 35% admitted to do it anyways.
D. 21% of teen drivers involved in fatal accidents were distracted by their cell phones.
E. Most of the class thought that it was dangerous to have multiple teens in a car at once which
is very true due to distractions.
F. Most people thought that 50 states prevent texting and driving but only 46 states have.
3. Age Ranges and Sex
A. Teens are not the only problem but so are adults with texting and driving.
B. 34% of teens have texted and drove at some point.
C. The age group most likely to text and drive are between 18 to 34.
D. 59 percent of texting Millennials say they have sent or read text messages at the wheel, 50
percent of text-using Gen Xers [ages 34 to 45] and 29 percent of texting Baby Boomers
[ages 46-64] report the same.

E. Adding other teens to the car can double the hormones in a car and make the teens less
responsible.
F. Genders can more easily distract each other when they are in the car together. This can be
because they want the attention from the opposite sex during the developmental period.
G. The most common behavior associated with the girls crashes, meanwhile, was being
distracted by something inside the car while driving with a boy passenger. Driving with male
passengers was also correlated with the girls daydreaming or performing an illegal
maneuver. The girls were less likely to do something illegal with another girl in the car, and
they werent likely to drive aggressively in any situation.
4. Prevention
A. People are trying to inform teen drivers of the dangers by giving them clear instructions on
why not to use their phones.
B. Before new drivers get their licenses, discuss the facts that they take their eyes off the road
and this can cause injury or death to someone.
C. Parents need to lead by example for their children.
D. If you need to talk on the phone pull over and talk in a safe place.
E. The popularity of mobile devices has had some unintended and even dangerous
consequences. We now know that mobile communications are linked to a significant increase
in distracted driving, resulting in injury and loss of life.
F. Start Smart in high schools to get a parking pass.
G. There's the cost of the ticket, which varies from state to state, depending on the base charge,
court fees and other expenses. As an example: Online Auto Insurance (OAI) reports that the
base fee in California is $20, but after adding on all the ancillary costs, texters leave the
courthouse a staggering $336 poorer.
H. Makes your insurance go up.
I. Phone companies have commercials to promote prevention.

Sources:
1. Eva Vasquez, CNN
2. Olga Khazan , The Atlantic Magazine.
3. Benjy Hansen- Bundy