Texting and Driving

Phones are common in everyday life and everyone has one. When you're driving though a phone can be a factor between life and death or fatal in some way. About 8% of total distracted driving crashes are due to cell phone use (Distracted Driving). Crashes even happen when people reach for their device. When you're out driving somewhere it's better to not pull your phone out at all because you take your eyes off the road, you put yourself and others at risk, and it's banned in a lot of states to even be using (Facts + Statistics).

Taking your eyes off the road for just a couple of seconds anything can happen. If you're driving 55mph and you take your eyes off the road for five seconds, which is about the average time someone takes to do something on their device, you could cross an entire football field (4 Reasons). Anything can happen within five seconds the car in front of you could stop, you could run a red light or miss a turn. When you take your eyes off the road you also take your mind of the road.

So obviously if you're not paying attention to the road you put yourself and others in danger, weather they're in the car with you of outside walking someone can get seriously hurt or even die. It's terrible to see something happen to someone just because they were texting and driving or reaching for their phone don't be that person, it makes you look like you don't care about anyone or anything. If you're driving fast and swerve you could crash into a building and that would be bad for you and for everyone else, you won't know what's going to happen after the moment you hit the building debris can hit someone, the building could fall, it would be a terrible accident.

Although texting and driving is technically not illegal it is banned and you can be fined or in some states spend some time in jail (Texting and Driving). Most states ban texting and driving but not hand held devices. Most states ban novice drivers from using cell phones in general or having them on them at all (Texting and Driving). Around 1.6 million crashes are caused by texting and driving every year and that's 1 of every 4 crashes (Distracted Driving). It's worse than drinking and driving.

So in general it's not worth pulling out or even reaching for your device if it increases the chance of a car accident happening (Motor Vehicle Safety). There are many things that can go wrong it doesn't just have be car collision you could hit something, swerve, miss a turn, drive straight into traffic, etc. There are so many little things you do when driving that are important to your safety that you probably don't even realize. So if you're driving stay away from the phone.

Works Cited

"4 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Text and Drive." City of Bryan, Texas, www. bryantx. gov/4-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-text-and-drive/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2019.

Distracted Driving 2016. Pdf. Accessed 23 Oct. 2019.

Distracted Driving | Motor Vehicle Safety | CDC Injury Center. 16 Sept. 2019, www. cdc. gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/index. html. Accessed 23 Oct. 2019.

Facts + Statistics: Distracted Driving | III. www. iii. org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-distracted-driving. Accessed 23 Oct. 2019.

"Texting and Driving Accident Statistics - Distracted Driving." Edgarsnyder. com, www. edgarsnyder. com/car-accident/cause-of-accident/cell-phone/cell-phone-statistics. html. Accessed 23 Oct. 2019.