Texting While Driving
Today people have become completely dependent on their cell phones. Society nowadays runs at 100mph. Navigation, the time a restaurant opens and what they will serve is just a click away. One of the ways it has changed society is the ability to send instant messages or SMS to a person. In order to save lives across the states, states should take a look at California laws and make texting while driving illegal.
The misconception with people who text and drive is that they think they’re invincible, that the stories heard all over the news and radio won’t happen to them. They’re not invincible; they’re delusional to think that they can send text messages while driving and it not matter. Not only is texting while driving an extremely selfish act, is presents problems with drivers everywhere you look. To think that a text message sent from a person is more important than a 3 year old little girl’s life for example, is beyond comprehension. No matter if citizens have the notion that they have been driving for longer than they have been walking, or the response “I can text without even looking at my phone” while driving, texting while driving has become part of everyday life in the world today.
The bottom line is texting while driving a vehicle can wait. There are many roads in the United States. Even on state highways, there are many “off ramps” and side access streets. One of these roads mentioned can be used all day every day to text away. No one’s life is ever worth taking early when a simple response text of “K” can turn someone’s vehicle into a four thousand pound deadly weapon. One thing that cannot be fathomed is the absolute need to text while driving. Drivers may think they need to respond to a text, or they do not need to pull over to reply with a simple text but according to Norman Y. Mineta, “A texting driver is 23 times more likely to be in a wreck than a non-texting driver.” With the many organized groups that have started a “texting can wait” campaign, many phone carriers have joined in the fight against TWD or texting while driving. Sure, there have been times where citizens have gone from point A to point B while texting throughout the middle and all had gone well. But it’s people like this playing Russian roulette every day with their vehicle, selfishly thinking only of themselves who give the media and society a story of how someone’s son or daughter or a whole family of four for that matter was taken because of one simple text. For those who say it’s an absolute necessity to create or reply to a text while driving, may want to think twice.
We have all seen the billboards, heard the radio commercials, read about the horrific crashes in the paper, but have we ever really stopped to think about the lives affected by this greedy act? According to Washington, DC - “The National Safety Council announced that it estimates at least 28% of all traffic crashes are from cell phone use. NSC estimates that 1.4 million crashes each year involve drivers using cell phones and a minimum of 200,000 additional crashes each year involve drivers who are texting.” Young inexperienced drivers may think they are able to multitask. But researchers have shown that multitasking can really hinder one’s ability to drive successfully. Some have gone as far as to say, any type of multitasking while driving is bad. “If you're driving while cell-phoning, then your