Editorial: Why Teenagers should stop texting when they are driving!
Artwork by Anna Becker
In a perfect world we would all be able to comfortably multitask while driving, but since this is not a perfect world and since there really is no such thing as multitasking (since the brain can only focus on one thing at a time), people – more specifically teenagers – should never try to multitask while behind the wheel.
The new Colorado Law banning texting while behind the wheel is a Godsend, but it isn’t being taken as seriously, and that scares me. I don’t like being afraid of cars. I like cars. They cover much more ground than the two appendages I call my feet. Unfortunately, Congress passed the law too late for a mother who lost her nine-year-old son in a car accident where the other driver was distracted by his/her texting.
The law is mostly aimed at teenagers, and that’s understandable. It is widely known and expected that most teenagers find this law unfair, but what I want to know is: what’s unfair about it? Safety? Not harming an innocent person? The fact that out of all the age groups teens own the most mobile phones (the average teen in the U.S. sends or receives an average of 2,899 text-messages per month)? Or that last year in December alone U.S. citizens sent 110 billion messages – a number that has been steadily increasing in the past three years?
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I would like to go through the rest of my life without being killed because someone received a text messaged they just couldn’t ignore.
Wrap your head around these statistics: a simulator study done by Clemson University found that, “Texting and using iPods caused drivers to leave their lanes 10 percent more often.” Another study done by AAA (American Automobile Association) and Seventeen Magazine revealed, “61 percent of teens have admitted to risky driving habits.”
Additionally, if you drive while texting you’re increasing your chances of getting into an accident 23 times greater than with not texting.
The texting issue isn’t just a Colorado problem, or even a problem in the United States only; it has turned into a global issue (a study in Ontario found that 1 trillion text messages were sent worldwide last year), as well. Studies have also shown that texting while driving is even more of a risk than speaking on the phone, both of which should be completely eliminated when you are in a vehicle. Aside from that, 18 states (including Washington D.C.) have already jumped on the bandwagon and made texting illegal. Unfortunately, the other 32 states are waiting for more research and data before they can even make the bill into law.
Research done by The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that in the moments before a crash or near or crash, drivers spent five seconds looking at their phones, the same five seconds it takes a vehicle to go down a highway the length of a football field.
NRMA (National Roads and Motorists Association) research has found that not only do drivers lose their ability to keep their vehicles straight but they also aren’t able to respond as quickly to traffic signs.
If statistics doesn’t convince people who text while driving, then maybe common sense might. What could possibly be more important than your safety or the safety of others? What could possibly be so important in that text message that you can’t wait?
Imagine you are driving to school, you’re already ten minutes behind schedule, someone just cut you off and the loud blaring of traffic horns is doing nothing for the headache you obtained from the lack of sleep you got the night before. The line finally gives way and you are about to turn into the parking lot then WHAM, you get rammed head-on by another car. Not only are you late, with a killer headache, but you also have a serious neck injury and your car is a completely unrecognizable mass of metal. Imagine that the only reason this happened was because the other driver had glanced down at a text-message he was receiving and had feebly tried to respond.
I know what most people are thinking, “Oh this won’t happen to me, I’m careful.”
Do you know what being careful is?
Not texting while driving.
