The Problem of Distracted Writing
Distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic that has resulted in deaths and injuries in crashes throughout the United States. Experts agree that there are three types of distractions: (1) visual – taking your eyes off the road; (2) manual – taking your hands off the wheel; and (3) cognitive – taking your mind off the road and the task of driving.
Your paper should consist of six (6) to twelve (12) paragraphs using proper spelling and grammar.
Start your paper off with the Introduction – 1-2 paragraphs. Then move into the Body of your paper – 4-8 paragraphs. Finally, the last part of your paper will be your Conclusion – 1-2 paragraphs. If you organize your paper in this manner, you will easily have the 6 to 12 paragraphs!
Introduction – 1-2 paragraphs:
Start your paper off with a definition of distracted driving. What is it? Explain in detail to your reader as if they know nothing about it.
Give a little bit of the background on distracted driving – how bad is the problem?
Finally, mention briefly who drives distracted most often.
Body – should consist of a total of 4-8 paragraphs:
1 to 2 paragraphs:
Give examples of activities that could divert driver attention. Why can’t we drive and multi-task?
What counts as a ‘hand-held device’?
What about using a phone as GPS?
What about being part of a phone conversation — even hands-free? How distracting is this?
1 to 2 paragraphs:
Texting while driving involves all three types of distractions: (1) visual – taking your eyes off the road; (2) manual – taking your hands off the wheel; and (3) cognitive – taking your mind off the road. In the words of Dr. John Lee of the University of Wisconsin, this produces a “perfect storm.”
Next, I would like for you to focus specifically on texting while driving and mention these areas:
the three distractions mentioned above
trends in texting
texting with handheld cell phones
texting with in-vehicle systems (voice)
1 to 2 paragraphs:
The third section of the body of your paper should be research you have done on Louisiana laws regarding cell phone use while driving, texting while driving, and just distracted driving in general. What are the laws of our state?
1 to 2 paragraphs:
Lastly in the body of your paper, I want you to do research on what age group of the population has the largest proportion of distracted driving. Research current statistics on distracted driving as far as the number of fatalities and injuries in crashes. What impact is distracted driving having on our driving performance?
Conclusion – 1 to 2 paragraphs:
In your conclusion, you should mirror what you wrote in your introduction – but do not copy and paste it! Use different language to write your summary. This should be a brief summary of your research.
Also, in this section, write about your opinion on what can be done about distracted driving. What are possible prevention steps?
Should we pass a federal law or leave it to the states to regulate distracted driving involving cell phones, texting, etc.?
