In recent years, many states have passed laws in which drivers are not allowed to use their cell phones while driving. Georgia, in particular, passed the Hands Free Law in 2018; this helped establish that phones cannot be used while driving, only when the car is parked. Since the release of this law, accidents due to phones have greatly diminished. Although in today's society cell phone have become a critical part of everyone's life, they have also become the epitome of distraction and addiction. The dependence people have on their phones has become so great that they are willing to risk their lives, driving blind for a couple seconds, going 60 mph, just to text back " LOL."

Although these law are in place, they still don't stop people from checking their notifications on their phones. Even with a two second checking of ones phone, it can cause their chances of crashing to become higher. If you are driving at 55mph and you looking away for 5 seconds, it'll be like driving the distance of a football field. This means that you possess a large risk to not only yourself, but everyone driving around you. 1.6 million people each year are involved in car crashes and a large portion of these crashes are due to cell phone usage.

One of the obvious consequences of texting and driving is one's inevitable death. Texting and driving, or just merely scrolling through your notifications puts yourself and others at risk since it's basically like driving blindfolded for a couple seconds. But people don't realize this, they'll see a clear road and then decide to pick up their phones. However, anything can happen within those few seconds. Texting and driving poses a threat to others on the road as well, so even if the car crash wasnt fatal on your end, you could have taken someone else's life. Another consequence of texting and driving involves non-fatal injuries. Although some car crashes on non-fatal, injuries are prevalent. Nearly 390,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving. A broken arm, concussion, lacerations, are some of the many injuries that are common after a collision. But there are some injuries that are far worse. Some people end up paralyzed, mute, and some even lose recollections of past memories. Imagine forgetting who you were, your family and friends, all for a simple text message.

On a different note, these car accidents are indeed preventable. States like Georgia are stepping up and passing laws to reduce the number of car accidents with the hands-free law. As previously mentioned, the number of car accidents have declined. Fatal crashes were down 6 percent in 2018, said Harris Blackwood, director of the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety. And for those who are caught using their phone while driving are given a pretty hefty fine. Additionally, on a more market scale, there are hands free devices available for purchase such as bluetooth earphones for calls and windshield phone mounts. Furthermore, the newer cars that are coming out are now embedding technology into the cars system to prevent drivers from using their phone. Drivers can easily browse through music, answer phone calls, and navigate to their desired destination.

A life can be lost by simply responding to a text or peeping at a notification. It's not worth it to risk your life just because you decided to look at your phone for a couple seconds. It's also not worth it to be on life support the rest of your life because you were recording a video to upload on snap that never ended up being uploaded. You also have the life of others in your hands when you make the decision to use your cellular device while driving. It's like driving under the influence but you're blindfolded. Life is already short to be texting and driving. It can wait, it's better to come home to your family than to not come home at all.

Works Cited

Campbell, Sarah Fay. "Hands-Free Law: Drop in Fatal Crashes, Mostly Mixed Results." Northwest Georgia News, 1 Jan. 2019, www. northwestgeorgianews. com/region/news/hands-free-law-drop-in-fatal-crashes-mostly-mixed-results/article_19db27c6-0e1f-11e9-8435-176b758fe77d. html.

"How Much Does the Average CA Car Crash Cost?" Liljegren Law Group, 24 Oct. 2018, www. liljegrenlaw. com/economic-cost-car-accidents-global-us-state/.

Aaron. "Hands-Free Cars Take Wheel, and Law Isn't Stopping Them." The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 May 2015, www. nytimes. com/2015/05/03/business/hands-free-cars-take-wheel-and-law-isnt-stopping-them. html

"Texting and Driving Accident Statistics - Distracted Driving." Edgarsnyder. com, Edgar Snyder & Associates, www. edgarsnyder. com/car-accident/cause-of-accident/cell-phone/cell-phone-statistics. html.

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