The Dangers of Driving While Texting (DWT)
Ever since the advent of digital services and mobile devices, more and more people are multitasking to deal with the difficulty of their lives. Doing something else when driving is fraught with risk. Driving itself entails some dangers of its own, so it is even riskier to have an eye on that and on something else at the same time. Distracted driving might just result in an accident, one that could be prevented if you put all focus into it.
Now, what does the term distracted driving refer to?
It is nothing but driving when you are caught up in something else. That different activity will take your attention away from your main task, which is to drive. DWT is regarded as the riskiest form of distracted driving.
Talking and texting on a phone constitutes a big part of distracted driving accident cases.
Penalties for This Distracted Driving
Almost all American states have passed laws, which made texting and driving illegal, to mitigate this unsafe practice. There are steep penalties for this, such as fines, license suspension, an increase in automobile insurance rates, or prison time.
For instance, in California, nobody is allowed to write, receive or send text messages while behind the wheel, with tougher restrictions on minors. The base penalty for the first breach is $20, while for the second infraction and on, it is $50. However, the state allows for penalty assessment fees, which might just make the overall fine for this offence over triple the base fine. You do not want to pay $150 for something that endangers your own life, do you?
Why cannot drivers multitask?
As per several experts, doing more things than one at the same time is more of a myth. Our brain cannot multitask; instead, it switches from a task to another. This is a bit like shutting an eye, then shutting the other one. A multitasker’s focus is always split between multiple activities, neither of which they can perform particularly well.
What’s more, texting is no mindless activity; rather, you need to read something and mentally come up with a response to it. You need to put all the focus and attention into such communication, or else there could be danger in store. Moreover, in the event you are disturbed by the text you read, you are going to be even more distracted.
