Road safety: Preparation for Generating a Policy Proposal
Although some states and cities have passed laws to ban texting and using handheld phones while driving, there is no current law to ban all cell phone use while driving. However, according to the National Safety Council (2009), 28 percent of all crashes–1.6 million per year–are caused by cell phone use and texting by drivers. The mission of a new national nonprofit organization called FocusDriven, patterned after Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is to make phone use while driving as illegal and socially unacceptable as drunk driving. US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood supports FocusDriven and its efforts.
According to the *Pittsburgh Post-Gazette*, LaHood said that this movement would become “an army of people traveling the countryside” to push for bans on cell-phone use and tough enforcement (Schmitz, 2010). As a political advocate interested in this issue, you will be writing a policy proposal that utilizes the current research to propose a solution to the issue and submitting it in *Module 5*.
*Annotated Bibliography: Effect of Cell Phone Use *
Before you can write this proposal research, you will need to conduct initial research on the science behind this initiative. For this assignment, use the Argosy University online library resources to locate research reports from peer-reviewed journals that discuss the effects of cell phone use on vision, attention, perception, or memory. In selecting at least five research reports from peer-reviewed journals relevant to the topic, make sure they address one or more of the following issues:
How do texting, handheld phones, and hands-free phones compare with each other in their effects on driving?
How do other, traditional distractions compare to cell phone use in their effects on driving (such as eating, attending to children, talking to passengers, listening to music/news, etc.)?
Can cell phone use while driving be compared with drunk driving? Why or why not?
What can other variables (such as age) affect driving while using a cell phone?
Based on your reading of the five articles, create an annotated bibliography for each of the five sources. Each annotation should consist of the APA reference entry followed by a paragraph-long summary of the articles. In your summary, provide answers for the questions below. For the last question, think about how the research results could be generalized to fit other environments or not be generalized.
– Summarize the main ideas in the reference. What were they investigating?
– How were the studies conducted? What was the sample size? Is it appropriate?
– Were the studies conducted in the real world or was a simulated environment used?
– How might these methodological considerations affect the research findings and the conclusions drawn from them? How does this article fit in with your paper? How did it influence your own ideas about your paper?
Your annotated bibliography should be at 3-4 pages in length.
…………………..Answer Preview…………………Road safety has always been of paramount importance especially in the modern world where the use of vehicle transport is of increasing significance. With the number of motorists constantly rising, there is need to keep a constant check on the factors that would promote the safety on roads. Older policies should constantly be reviewed in order to keep them up to date with the current trends or findings, such as through scientific research. There are a number of causes of road accidents, which include one of the most notable, drunk-driving, which……………….