1. The Absence of Effective Laws Regarding Safety in Texas Lianna Pena & Hannah Eaton

2. The Dangers of Distracted Driving Lianna Pena

3. What is Distracted Driving? Distracted driving has many forms of different activities performed while driving such as Eating Drinking Grooming Being on a cell phone such as talking, posting on social media, or, a growing problem in recent years, texting. Figure 1. Logo for TxDOT. (2016). Texas Department of Transportation.

4. Current Legislation in Texas Ordinances (laws passed in cities) Four major state laws which prohibits drivers under 18 using cell phones drivers with learner’s permit using a cell phone in their first 6 months, use of cell phones at all in school zones bus drivers using a cell phone while there are children around. Legislation pushing for statewide ban on texting while driving Figure 2. Texting while driving prohibition sign. (2016).

5. My Claim Texas should pass the statewide ban on texting while driving to ensure a safer future on the road.

6. The Effects of Texting While Driving “On average, it takes a person 4.6 seconds to send out a text message, which means that a person driving 70 miles per hour would travel the length of a football field and a half without looking” (Salazar,2014). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O 8MQV40pOtk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O 8MQV40pOtk Figure 3. Don’t Text and Drive Cartoon. (2016). Sun News.

7. Opposition of Statewide Ban Studies finding bans to be ineffective over time “Drivers appear to be reacting to bans by initially altering their behavior, only to return to normal behavior later” (Abouk and Adams, 2013, p. 180). Violates the 4 th Amendment in the Bill of Rights Other ways to enforce safety on the roads slogans like, for instance, “Click It or Ticket” and “Drunk Driving: Over The Limit, Under Arrest” Figure 4. Murphy, M. (2010). Working Together?. Today’s Editorial Cartoon.

8. Campaign For Statewide Ban In Texas, from 2015, there have been 103,576 traffic accidents that factored in distraction which is 3 percent of increased crashes from 2014 (“TxDOT: Distracted Driving,” 2015). From the study, the authors concluded that the bans on texting would potentially be more effective if bans were for all purposes on all cell phone uses (Abouk and Adams, 2013) Clear up some misunderstanding on what cities, counties, and towns have advocated its own ordinances on bans. Figure 5. Wilkinson, S. (2010). When the law passed against texting while driving. The Social Poets.

9. Why Texas Should Pass the Ban Representative Craddick, who attempted for the texting while driving ban to be passed last summer, expressed his reaction, “Anybody who dies from texting while driving in the next two years, that's on the back of those [opposing] senators” (Barnett, 2015). What the statewide ban really is for to save lives and bring safety back on the roadways of Texas. All that the arguments between the legislators are doing is stalling time and putting more lives at risk. Figure 6. Talk Text Crash. Texas Department of Transportation. (2016).

10. References Abouk, R., & Adams, S., (2013). Texting bans and fatal accidents on roadways: Do they work? Or do drivers just react to announcements of bans?. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5(2), 179–199. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ Barnett, M. (2015). State texting ban is halted in Senate. Dallas Morning News, The (TX). doi: 2W62030564586 Batheja, A. (2015). Banning texting while driving. Retrieved from https://txlege.texastribune.org/topics/transportation/#banning-texting-while-driving Benning, T. (2015). Does banning cellphone use while driving reduce accidents. Dallas Morning News, The (TX). doi: 2W6736526085. Cell phone ordinances. (2016). Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved from http://www.txdot.gov/driver/laws/cellphones.html Don’t Text and Drive Cartoon. (2016). Sun News. Retrieved from http://media.cleveland.com/allsun/photo/we552067cjpg- f0e43f0fe759110e.jpg Editorial: It's absurd that Texas doesn't ban texting while driving. (2015). Dallas Morning News, The (TX). doi: 2W694796473. Logo for TxDOT. (2016). Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved from http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/yourhoustonnews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/2/01/2011033 9-d9e0-5dfc-b2dd-b4e36eeec48b/548b2c30e5d22.image.jpg?resize=300%2C230

11. References (cont.) Murphy, M. (2010). Working Together?. Today’s Editorial Cartoon. Retrieved from https://omiopinion.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/murph-textingban-0204.jpg Salazar, A. (2014). A&M researcher ties strict state laws for texting while driving with increased fatality prevention. Eagle, The (Bryan, TX). doi: 2W61702799141. Stimpson, J., Wilson, F., & Muelleman, R. (2013). Fatalities of pedestrians, bicycle riders, and motorists due to distracted driving motor vehicle crashes in the U.S., 2005—2010. Public Health Reports (1974-), 128(6), 436–442. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.manowar.tamucc.edu/stable/23646586 Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. (2009). Addressing the problem of distracted driving. Washington DC: Government Printing Office. Talk. text. crash. - Distracted driving campaign. (2016). Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved from http://www.txdot.gov/driver/share-road/distracted.html Texting while driving prohibition sign. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.jrlawfirm.com/wp- content/uploads/2016/01/texting-driving-laws-texas-256x300.png TxDOT: Distracted driving crashes in Texas up 3 percent in 2015. (2016). Odessa American. (TX). doi: 2W683995421 Wilkinson, S. (2010). When the law passed against texting while driving. The Social Poets. Retrieved from http://thesocialpoets.blogspot.com/2010/11/funny-situational-hunh-cartoons-29-nov.html

12. Lack of Environmental Regulations and Laws Hannah Eaton