Texting and Driving

Driving along the highway at 65 mph, sun roof down, music blasting, and sun setting in the west - it’s times like these where you don’t have a care in the world. That is until the tiny, vibrating sensation in your pocket hits. The first thought is always to ignore it, but it’s never that easy. As hard as you try to keep your eyes on the road, you can’t stop thinking about that tiny, pestering, annoyance in your pocket. Who is it from? What does it say? Am I in trouble? Am I being invited somewhere? I gotta check this out is the last thought that comes across your mind before you finally cave in. Unfortunately, all it takes is that five second period of reaching into your pocket and reading the text for the car in front of you to slam on their breaks in order to avoid hitting a squirrel. At that moment, as your car smashes straight in to the rear of another, it no longer seemed worth it to read that extremely urgent text message from your friend saying: “lol”.
Texting and driving seems like such an innocent crime, but it truly is on a similar level as drunk driving or physically talking on a cellphone. The American Automobile Association statistics show that nearly 50% of teenagers admit to texting while driving(Texting While Driving). Keep in mind, that is only the percentage of teenagers that admitted to it. I, personally, will admit that I have committed this felony in the past. I started with just texting at red lights, then to the short responses while driving 20 mph along suburban streets, and eventually made my way up to texting while driving at speeds of 65 mph on the highway. Needless to say, some people take it even further!
Although there is no national ban on texting, most states have passed laws preventing hands-on use of cellular devices. Today, however there is a multitude of applications available to cell phone users that allow them to speak into the phone and text verbatim. Unfortunately, in most cases the phone will translate “Meet you at five o’clock”, to something along the lines of “Meat you at five sock”. It is for this reason that I think we can all agree that it would just be easier to pull over to say what you have to say.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in 2008, driver distraction was the cause of 16% of all fatal crashes. That is an extremely high percentage of accidents for something that we consider to be such a minor offense. People laugh at the ridiculousness of seeing people driving to work in the morning doing their make-up, eating breakfast, or filling out work forms, but the truth is that texting is up there on that list of ridiculous things to be doing. I have witnessed friends of mine arguing with girlfriends, organizing plans for the night, updating Facebook statuses, all through text messages while driving. Is it really worth the risk that is being taken here to complete minuscule tasks that can easily be completed at another time?
The biggest problem with texting while driving is that the majority of those committing this crime also happen to be the most accident-prone and inexperienced drivers: teenagers. Not only do teenagers pay high insurance, but their cell phone bills are no different. I will be the first to admit that I use my cell phone nearly every minute of the day. I text in class, I text while I eat, I text before I go to bed, but one thing that I don’t do anymore is text and drive. While I would like to fancy myself a good driver, I am not. I speed, I rarely use a blinker, I think yellow means speed up, and red means speed up even more. The last thing I need is to be texting on top of all this. Rarely have I ever been in a situation where ignoring a text message was a life or death situation, so after just a couple months behind the wheel (and a few scares here and there), I realized that a text message is not as important as keeping your eyes on the road.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the percentage of drivers using a cell phone while driving increased to 0.9% in 2010 (April Is...Awareness Month). While this percent increase seems minor, it is only going to increase further because we live in a rapidly technologically developing century where the accessibility and convenience of personal electronics is infinite. As personal electronics become more available to us, we will become more and more attached. Like I said earlier, one in ever two teenagers previously admitted to texting while driving. Now, take into consideration the constantly evolving iPhone and we have ourselves a serious problem. By this, I mean that the percentage is going to skyrocket over the next few years. Pretty soon, it won’t be just 50% of teenagers, but 50% of all people. The only thing that will decrease that number is those who suffer the consequences of doing such.
If you want to continue driving along the highway at 65 mph, with the sun roof down, music blasting, and the sun setting in the west, then you will stop texting and driving. Regardless of all the statistics supporting the detriment of texting while driving, just use common knowledge. We all passed our drivers’ exams by keeping our eyes on the road, so why does no one continue to do so? Put your phone on silent, in the glove department, or the trunk if need be, but just do not do it! Texting and driving is a minor offense that can make a huge impact. Soldiers are dying every day for our country, and here we are, dying everyday to text a “jk” or a smiley face. It is time to set our priorities straight and keep texting off our roads.