Talking on a cell phone and driving at the same time has been an unsolved problem for a while, but now there is an even worse issue rising. People, especially those under 30 years of age, are starting to text while driving on the road. This is something to be concerned about because now not only are people looking at their phones when someone calls or texts, but they are texting back, too. This is a major distraction that should not be happening on our streets.

I was surprised to learn from a poll on gizmodo.com that “89% of adults think that texting while driving is distracting, dangerous, and should be outlawed,” Yet, “66% percent of those that were surveyed text and drive anyway.” People always say they won’t do something, like for example, texting and driving, but they end up doing it anyway. When someone sees or hears their phone go off, the draw to pick it up and answer it is almost completely unbearable. People need to realize that reaching for it while you’re driving and replying is not worth the possible consequences that could result from taking your eyes off the road! This gradually increasing problem in our society needs to stop before too many people get injured, or even killed.

After some researching, psychologists at the University of Utah came to the conclusion that, “Texting behind the wheel is 50 percent more dangerous than talking on a cell phone while driving.” To add to that, people think that if they’ve done it a couple of times before without anything happening, then it’s not that dangerous. That is exactly what Patrick Sims thought before his whole life changed with a direct example of texting while driving. An article on CBSnews.com told about how Sims was driving with his girlfriend and was about a mile away from his house in Denver. He started texting his friend and suddenly heard his girlfriend scream. When he looked up, it was too late and he had hit a 63-year-old grandfather riding his bike. He and his girlfriend lived, but unfortunately the man on the bike was killed. Maile Gray, who is with Drive Smart summed the truth up in one sentence, “One distraction can lead to a tragedy. In seconds, your life, or someone else’s life, can change.” I’m sure there isn’t one day that Sims doesn’t think about that crash.

Finally, people are not just sitting around and hearing about crash after crash. They are taking a stand and trying to fix the problem. According to USAToday.com, the state of Washington recently took a stand and passed a new law that bans texting while driving. They said it was easy to convince the state to pass the law because there was a 53 year-old man checking his e-mail on Interstate 5 in December, causing a 5-car pileup. Even though this is a good step for Washington, there are still 49 states with distracted drivers behind the wheel. Arizona, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, and Tennessee were all trying to pass a bill to ban texting, but it was vetoed in each state because it was either considered unnecessary, or there wasn’t enough crash data to prove that the accidents were actually linked. However, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and California are still considering the ban of the devices, which is on the right track.

Some states like Maine, for example, don’t allow teens under 18 years old to use cell phones while they are driving, but the rest of the population can. The problem with this is that no matter how old or experienced someone is, young eyes or old, they can’t safely drive with them looking down at a phone. It takes two thumbs to text, and that means your hands are off the wheel as well as the eyes that are reading what you are typing. I think if you ask anyone, this is not a very safe situation.

People think this texting and driving is only happening in the big cities, because that’s where all the surveys take place. However, that is not true; take a small town school like Monmouth Academy for example. A survey of about 30 teens resulted in 56% of the students texting while driving. A little over half is not bad, but it’s not great either. The part that is even worse is that 66% percent of the students who text think what they are doing is okay. I never thought that in my own school more than half of the students would think it is fine. After hearing about all the horrible things that have resulted from this, I know there is nothing fine about it. Somewhere along the way, they learned that there was nothing wrong with taking their hands off the wheel and looking down to type a text. With technology improving, these kids are probably thinking that since it is, not illegal to do it, then why not? Everyone else is right? If everyone in our country has the mindset that texting while driving is not an issue, then our roads are becoming less and less safe.

No, there is not a lot of evidence on the issue of texting while driving, but the evidence that we do have is serious enough to say that it needs to stop. People need to come back to the reality that they have other lives in their hands, whether it be in the seat next to them or other vehicles driving around them. Then, they need to think before they open their phones in the car because it’s almost inevitable that they are going to text back the minute they receive a message. Before Americans can do anything about this problem, we need to inform everyone of the dangers and that is what I am attempting to do right now. Once they are informed, hopefully they will agree that this is a growing concern that needs to come to an end before too many people get injured, or even killed. Then maybe, if we all work together to fix this, we can save lives.

Bibliography

• Bruno, Laura. “Stop Text Messaging, Drivers Urged.” USA TODAY. 31 Mar. 2008 (USAToday.com).

• “Cell Phone Related to Crash.” Kennebec Journal 6 May 2008, sec. B4.

• McNamara, Paul. “State Bans Texting While Driving.” Network World. 12 May 2007. 31 March. 2008 (Networkworld.com).

• “Texting to Blame for Crash That Killed 5 Teens?” MSNBC. 14 July 2007. 31 Mar. 2008 (msnbc.com).

• Wilson, Mark. “89% of Americans Want Texting While Driving Outlawed.” Gizmodo. 7 Aug. 2007. 3 Mar. 2008 (gizmodo.com/gadgets).