Texting and driving is a big safety risk that can cause the driver and innocent bystanders to be killed or injured. Texting is very important and a big issue today, due to the number of deaths that has occurred. Having an innocent life taken away because a person couldn’t wait to text until after the car has stopped, is something that people should be concerned about. In the past the only issue was drinking and driving, now people have to be concerned about texting and driving. Many incidents have happened in the past to prove the fact that texting and driving can cause many deaths. NY state trooper said, “It’s not easy to spot a driver who is texting because the cell phone isn’t in their ear it’s in their lap.” (Howell). That is the main reason why officers aren’t able to stop these drivers until it is too late. The number of deaths and injuries that has occurred in the past has been increasing each year. The main question that has been documented is why can’t people resist the urge to pick up their phones when they’re behind the wheel?
A psychiatry professor at UCLA quoted, “In a sense of our brains are hardwired to text.” He came up with a theory saying, “we want to stay connected to others and we’ve found this device that allows us to stay connected with others.” (Gary Small). Ever since 2008 texting has been up 126 percent and talking on the phone has been down 56 percent. Despite the warnings and laws that have been enacted, for many people this means that the brain is in battle between picking up the phone and leaving it alone while driving. There are many facts and statistics about texting and driving that should really open up people’s eyes about how dangerous texting and driving can be. About five seconds is the average time a person’s eyes is taken off the while texting. When traveling at fifty-five miles per hour, that is enough time for a person to miss what is happening on the road. Those innocent bystanders that were killed in distracted-driving car crashes, 995 of those crashes involved reports of a cell phone as the distraction. A person would think that drinking and driving would cause more of a mess than texting would, but according to a study at University of Utah, using a texting delays a person’s reaction more than drinking and driving. 2009 is the first year that had a large number of deaths and injuries due to texting and driving. In 2009 20% of injuries crashes involved reports of distracted driving. In that same year 5,474 people were killed in the United States roadways, and an additional 448,000 motor vehicle were reported to be involves in distracted driving.
The age group of the largest distracted drivers are 20 and under. 20% of drivers involved in crashes were under the age of 20. 49% percent of drivers with cell phones under the age of 35 send or read text messages while driving (2011, Harris Poll). An online survey proves that teens know that texting and driving is dangerous but still continues to do it. An online survey taken by 1,999 teens between the ages of 16-19, found that 86% had driven while texting while 84% of those teenagers knew that it bad and dangerous. The main reason why teenagers keep texting and driving is because they say, “I am used to multi-tasking.” Those teens also thin that while texting and driving no harm will come onto them. 21% of teens say, “I am used to being connected with people at all times. Twenty-three is the average number of texts per month that teens who text admit to sending (AAA and Seventeen Magazine). It is very sad to hear that 77% of teens and young adults are somewhat confident that they can safely text and drive. Those 77% are the reason why the numbers of deaths and injuries are increasing by the year. 55% of teens and young adults think that it is very to text and pay good attention to driving at the same time. Those percentages of teens and young adults who think that it is ok to text and drive have not changed and have remained the same for two years now. There are some good teenagers and young adults who think that texting and driving isn’t good, because 89% of them said that text and driving is a problem. There are many real life incidents that has happened in today’s society that includes injuries and deaths of texting and driving. A mother was driving two of daughters to a birthday party when a horrific tragedy took place. She was waiting at the red light; when the light turned green she started to go.
The driver other driver that was texting ran the red light and collided into her. The results of the crash were terrible; it impacted one of the daughters the most. Six year old Hannah was in a comma for 22 days and when she finally awoke, they found her to be mute and verbally immobile. Another incident that took place cost a person their life. Sara and her sister would text while driving because they said, “it driving less boring.” Little did they know texting and driving can put a person in a large amount of danger. The crash happened in 2007, when Sara’s parents were called down to the hospital to find her lying in bed with tubes surrounding her. The doctor told the family that she wouldn’t make it and they were going to take her off life support. The cause of this tragic moment is when Sara was responding to her sisters text and took her eyes off the road. Texting and driving is a dangerous thing that has caused many deaths and injuries. The injuries can be as small as a broken arm and as big as being mute for the rest of your life. How can we stop texting and driving? The answer is simple; convince people to put the cell phones down when driving. Like the famous saying goes; It Can Wait.
