Find A Different Way

Texting while driving puts the most precious gift at risk: life.

We take for granted how fragile life can be. Realizing that no text is worth losing a life

over should be a big enough impact to simply turn a phone off or ignore it while driving.

Most likely, the text message can wait another 10 to 20 minutes until the person is no longer driving. If it can’t be ignored though, other solutions are available.

Some phones have applications that are available to send out an automated “I am driving” response while the phone is in motion. A driver always has to option to pull over to make a call or send a text. If the person is in a big hurry, they can at least wait until they are stopped at a red light. Life is too important to waste it on a text.

Find a Different way to communicate!

Text Free Driving

Texting while driving is, no doubt, a serious issue. Many organizations are being created to help spread awareness of the dangers of texting while driving. The main age group that is involved in texting while driving are teens and young adults. One of the many organizations that are doing their part to help spread awareness is the Text Free Driving Organization.

Text Free Driving Organization's mission is, "to make out highways, roadways and neighborhood streets as sage as possible" (Text Free Driving). Their website is full of statistics and frightening numbers. There is also a live feed of recent news relating to texting while driving. The organization's main goal is to get drivers to stop texting while driving.

At my school last year, many students and teachers took a pledge to not text and drive. They signed a form and were given an orange bracelet to show that they made the pledge and planned to follow it. This became a common even at many other schools. This all began after Oprah Winfrey's show on the dangerous outcomes of texting while driving. Many people listened to what she had to say about the subject and made the pledge.

Different groups and organizations are making an effort to try and get drivers to stop texting while driving by educating them with startling statistics. If the status of this problem does not improve, drastic measures might have to be taken; the little organizations would be labeled unsuccessful.

Information Source:
"Text Free Driving Organization". Text Free Driving. Web. 14 October 2010.

Criminal Acts

While some may find it acceptable to flirt with that fine line between life and death, others may be less likely to commit a felony. That’s right, texting while driving is a straight up felony in up to thirty states already. This means, that in these thirty states, if a police officer sees a driver texting they are able to pull them over and issue them a citation. People may not be concerned with thoughts of what will happen when they die, but the majority of people do not want to have a stained record, or pay the high price for receiving a ticket.

Although, Texas is not included on the thirty states with a texting while driving ban, there are people in Austin lobbying for a law making texting while driving illegal. One of these groups is SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions). They have teamed up with Liberty Mutual and AAA to fight the Texas government in the case of public safety. While Texas is still working to pass laws to keep their citizens safe, other states have already set up rules and punishments for the current texting while driving epidemic. According to one website, “the fines for texting while driving range anywhere from $20 all the way up to approximately $750. Utah can claim the prize for strictest texting while driving laws with violators receiving fines up to $720 and up to fifteen years in prison. That is the same punishment for people who drive drunk” (Gillingwater). Though some may think this is too hefty of a price to pay, think about all the innocent victims each year that are killed by somebody texting while driving. According to another website, “cell phone use accounts for 2,600 vehicle fatalities each year” (Don’t Drive…). Whether the ultimate punishment may vary person to person, we all must face the simple question of, is it worth it to you?

 

Works Cited

Info and Picture:

Gillingwater, Candice. “Laws Against Texting While Driving Result in Fines or Even Prison.”

Suite 101.com (2010): Web. October 12, 2010 < http://www.suite101.com/content/laws-against-texting-while-driving-result-in-fines-or-even-prison-a236807#ixzz12BGiyg27 >.

Info:

“Texting While Driving Statistics/Information.” Don’t Drive and Text.org (2009-2010): Web.

October 12, 2010 <http://www.dontdriveandtext.org/Statistics>.

Friends Don't Let Friends Text While Driving

In our world, so many things have been invented and improved. Everything’s faster, bigger, newer and you don’t want to get left in the past, texting is one of those things. Every day phone companies are coming out with new phones, that have service everywhere, or can get you the fastest internet connection, which makes teenagers, like myself, drool over catalogs with all the new devices, just waiting to be purchased. But how can these items be so dangerous, how can something used by almost everyone in the world cause so much destruction. It’s just like everything else, overusing the product, or not using the product at an appropriate time, such as texting and driving.

My friend Mark had just gotten the new 400 dollar I-Phone, and almost never took his eyes off it. He would be in class texting, at home watching You-Tube videos, and online updating his status on Facebook 24/7. I went over to his house one afternoon to go swimming. We had gone swimming and had built up a serious appetite and decided to get a bite to eat at Zaxbys. As we were driving he was texting his mom telling her where we were going as he began to swerve off the road. We jumped the curb and came to a halting stop inches away from a tree. We both were quite shaky, so we regained ourselves for a couple of minutes and continued on our journey. Literally three minutes after almost totaling his truck into a tree, he was off in his own land texting someone. Before I could say a word; he rear-ended a car at a stop sign. I shook my head in disgust and couldn’t believe after what had happened minutes before hand; he would still try to text someone. Luckily no one was hurt, and only a little damage was done to both cars. Needless to say, he doesn’t even bring his phone in his car anymore.

I don’t know if you have ever seen the ad that says “Not everyone dies while drinking and driving” and has a picture of a disfigured face that looks un-human like. Well texting and driving should be seen as the same way. Sometimes you get lucky like my friend Mark, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you die and sometimes you live, unfortunately maybe in a wheelchair or with missing limbs depending on your situation. So it’s your decision next time your phone goes off, do you wait, or risk your life?


Picture Source: "verydemotivational." Web. 5 October http://verydemotivational.com/category/motivated-photos//images/2008/7/16/633518353103604795-text-messaging---lol-no-im-nt-busy-im-only-drving---demotivator.jpg

Texting Affects Everyone

Taking your eyes off the road for two seconds to respond to a text from your girlfriend doesn’t seem like that big of a deal right? Taking your hands off the wheel to tell your buddies that you’re on the way to the party isn’t dangerous, or is it? Well according to the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory, “texting while driving impairs driving skills more than being drunk or high”. What people don’t realize is that they text while they drive so nonchalantly, they don’t even think twice about the consequences of their actions and the danger that they are putting themselves and the people around them in. At least if someone was high, or had a little too much to drink, they might find themselves calling someone for a ride home, or just staying the night at that house, considering the dangers of being behind the wheel. An act of texting while driving is even more dangerous than being high, or drunk, yet people still do it.

Texting while driving cannot only affect you, but can also affect the people around you. Accidents occur daily just because a drivers pocket vibrates, and the curiosity of who is texting or what it says leaves a driver pulling their phone from their jeans, taking their eyes off the road, leading people in car wrecks and occasionally deadly accidents. Texting may cause you to rear end someone at a stop sign, totaling your vehicle and the car in front of you. This may cause insurance to rise, expensive payments, and maybe even the loss of your license. Some people don’t get that lucky though, sometimes people are left injured physically or mentally. You could be left sitting in a wheel chair for the rest of your life, being spoon fed yogurt, not being able to even go to the bathroom by yourself. Even if you walk away unharmed, living with the mental picture of seeing a dead body bagged, all because you couldn’t wait till you got home to look at your phone could leave you emotionally scarred for the rest of your life. Texting is no longer a “young driver” thing. Unfortunately, as the technology becomes more available and more common, more and more drivers, young and old will be texting while driving. Until a drastic measure is made it is safe to say that texting and the resulting fatalities will be with us for a while.


Picture Source: "photobucket." Web 5 October http://media.photobucket.com/image/effects%20of%20texting%20while%20driving/amhirschman/texting-while-driving.jpg

Info Source: "cellular-news." Web 5 October http://www.cellular-news.com/story/33703.php

Is It Worth the Pain?

Texting is the new phenomenon; there's no denying that. Most teenagers use texting everyday and some even use it all day. There are also those people who use texting while they are trying to drive. Most of those people would say that they are able to multi-task without harming other people because they are pros at it; the truth is, no one is ever going to be able to be akilled enought at texting while driving to not put themselves and others in harm's way. I am guilty of this dangerous act. Recently, however I was nearly the cause of an accident because I felt the need to reply to a text as soon as I received it.


As I was driving home from my friend's house one night I received a text message from a friend. Without even thinking, I reached for my plone to read it. As I looked up from my phone, I saw how I had drifted towards the ditch on the side of the road where a person was walking. If I had not looked up at that very moment I could have driven straight into the ditch or worse, hit the pedestrian walking along the side of the road. The rest of the drive home my phone stayed in my purse in the passenger seat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDLCmStIw9E&feature=related

The link above is to PSA about texting while driving. In the video, a group of teenage girls are texting a boy that one of the girls has a crush on. The girls' fun time is soon interrupted by the deadly crash. Throughout all the banging of heads on windows and shipping of the bodies, the girl who was driving and had the phone was the only one to live from her car. The innocent drivers of the other vehicles lost their lives because of this text. Achild is left with no parents and a parent has lost a child. The girl must now live with the image of her deceased friends and the guilt of robbing someone of their life for as long as she lives.

From all this we must ask ourselves; is replying to a message so important you'd risk your life for it? Is it worth putting other people's lives in danger?

Video Source: "PSA Texting while Driving U.K. Ad [HD]." Web. 27 September 2010.

Cellular Catastrophes

         

In the technology based world we live in the necessity for fast and easy communication is a must. This is where texting comes in to play. Relatively a recent invention, created in the late 90’s, texting has rapidly grown into the number one form of communication in the United States. Due to its convenience, it has become second nature to multitask this line of communication with other activities. Unfortunately, this means that we not only use this as a constructive tool, but also a destructive life altering machine.

Until the outbreak of texting, the number one cause of fatal accidents was drunk driving, until now.  We have managed to integrate texting and driving in to one big disaster. That’s right, multitasking is NOT always a good thing. In fact, in this case, it is over eight times more likely to increase our chance of having a fatal accident while driving.

Briefly think of all your friends and family; think about those of them that have been in your car before; think of how many of them drive and text. What would they do if you were to die all because you “had” to read that text? How would you feel if that happened to somebody you know? How would you live yourself if you were responsible for taking somebody’s life, even if you didn’t mean to? These may seem like harsh questions, but if we continue our reckless driving, we will be forced to find the answers.

Picture Source: "Zazzle." Web. 20 September 2010.  http://www.zazzle.com/anti_texting_while_driving_mousepad-144747311802460901