Revision Assignment (5%)

Due March 6th Midnight

Read the following essay and answer the questions.

Put the Brakes on Driving While Texting by Leonard Pitts

Have you ever texted while driving even though you know it’s dangerous? Made a phone call?
Eaten a burger? In this column for the Miami Herald, nationally syndicated columnist Leonard
Pitts examines the national problem of otherwise sensible people taking tremendous risks while
driving. Pitts won the Pulitzer Prize for insightful commentary on American society in 2004.
1 The amazing thing about the debate over the need for laws to ban texting while driving is that
there is a debate over the need for laws to ban texting while driving.

2 In the first place, you’d think you wouldn’t need a law, that simple common sense would be
enough to tell us it’s unsafe to divert attention to a tiny keyboard and screen while
simultaneously piloting two tons of metal, rubber, glass and let us not forget, flesh, at freeway
speeds—or even street speeds. In the second place, if common sense were insufficient, you’d
think lawmakers would have rushed to back it up with tough laws.

3 Think again.

4 The issue has been moved to the front burner recently by a confluence of events. In late July, a
study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute quantified the blatantly obvious: Texting
while driving is dangerous. Researchers found that the person who does so is the functional
equivalent of a drunken driver, a whopping 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident or
near-collision. Actually, according to a study in Car and Driver magazine, the texter is a
significantly greater threat than a mere drunk.

5 About the same time the VTTI study was released, four senators introduced legislation that
would require states to pass laws banning drivers from texting or risk losing federal highway
funds. According to the Los Angeles Times, only 16 states and Washington, D.C., already have
such laws on the books.

6 And last week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a summit in which
lawmakers, law enforcement, academics, safety experts, and other stakeholders will study texting
and other driving distractions. You want my response to this flurry of attention and activity? I
can give it to you in a syllable: Duh.

7 What else is there to study? What more is there to say? The danger is all too self-evident. And
if it were not, it has been quite aptly illustrated in episodes like last year’s commuter train crash
in California in which the operator was texting and 25 people died.

8 Enough. Ban texting while driving. And cell phone use, too. Because what researchers tell us is
that it’s not the physical difficulty of juggling the devices that endangers us. It is the distraction:
a driver so wrapped up in communicating with a person who isn’t there that he is drawn away
from his primary duty of keeping the car between the lines. The brain doesn’t have sufficient
bandwidth for both.

9 So yeah, there ought to be a law. And it ought to have some teeth in it. On the second offense,
maybe a hefty fine, or brief loss of driving privileges. On the third, maybe you earn a free stay of
a couple days and nights at the lovely graybar hotel.

10 If you sense here the zeal of the newly converted, congratulations on your perception. I
stopped using my cell behind the wheel (I was never dumb enough to text) two weeks ago. Had
myself an epiphany, I did: Was reviewing last night’s game with my son really worth dying for?
I decided it was not. So, I no longer make or take calls while driving.

11 If it’s an emergency, I told my family, dial me again and I’ll call you back. But the calls are
hardly ever urgent, are they? That’s not what this epidemic is about. Rather, it’s about this idea
—new within the last 15 years or so of our hyper-connected, hyper-productive culture—that it’s
never OK to be out of touch or unreachable.

12 Whither solitude? Whither the moment just spent communing with your own thoughts? Do
you really have that much to say? I’ll save you the trouble: You don’t.

13 Phoning while driving, texting while driving … here’s a novel idea. How about driving while
driving? And for those truly urgent messages that just can’t wait, I propose a simple solution:

14 Pull over.

Source:
Pitts, L. (2021) “Put the Brakes on Driving While Texting” In S. Fawcett, Grassroots with
readings: The writer’s workbook: pp. 464-465. Boston: Cengage.

Answer the following questions:

1) In Paragraph 4 and 5, the author provides the findings of some research
studies. What point is the author making with all these studies? Explain your
answer.
The author claims that, the story's central theme is the dangers of texting or talking
on the phone while driving.
2) In paragraph 7, the author has provided an example. What message does he
want to convey to the reader with the example? Explain your answer.
In paragraph 7, the author illustrates the incidents like the California commuter
train tragedy in which the operator was texting and 25 people were killed have
clearly shown the dangers of distracted driving. The message he wants to convey is
the risk of using phones while driving.
3) "What else is there to study? What more is there to say? The danger is all too
self-evident." What is the position of the author about the study and why is
he questioning it? Provide your explanation and reasons.
Distractions like texting are the most worrisome. For 5 seconds, your eyes are off
the road while you send or receive a text message. That's the equivalent of driving
a football field's length blindfolded at 55 mph. Unless you're completely focused
on the job of driving, it's impossible to do it safely. Any non-driving activity that
you participate in increases your chance of accident.In 2020, distracted driving
claimed the lives of 3,142 people. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) leads the national effort to prevent this harmful conduct from occurring
in order to save more lives. Don't just read about it; really do something about it!.
The authorstopped using cell behind the wheel incase of sone drajestic incidents.
4) What are the suggestions the author has offered in the text? Explain your
answer. 
The main suggestions the author has offered in the text was pullover. That is
move to the side of or off the road and stop the vehicle incase of emergencycalls.
Or else just avoid it.
Note: Revise your sentence construction, punctuation mark and tense before submitting the
revision assignment