The Risk of Texting and Driving

Over the last few years, texting or talking on the phone has been a rising problem for drivers. According to the National Safety Council, 1.6 million crashes a year are caused by cell phone use, and because of this, I believe cell phone usage should be banned for those operating a vehicle.

In 2106 alone, 263 teenagers were killed because of cell phone usage while driving. Some of these deaths were not even the teenagers fault, but instead because of a distracted driver crashing into them. Even though texting and driving causes so many deaths, the NHTSA has reported that approximately 660,000 drivers use electronic devices while driving every single day. Why would people continue to use cell phones while driving every day when they know how much of a risk there is? I believe it is for one of two main reasons. Either they are impatient or they aren't worried because they don't think it will happen to them.

As for being impatient, I understand that some people are curious of what a text is or they want an answer to a question, but because of the risk to yourself and those around you, it's worth waiting to answer. Now for those who don't think it will happen to them. Nobody believes that anything they hear about online or on TV will happen to them, but I am almost positive that every person who has died in a car accident, woke up that morning believing the same thing. If you really need to respond to someone immediately for some reason, wait until you are at a red light or a stop sign, or if it's really an emergency just pull off the road for a minute and respond.

There are so many ways to prevent accidents for reasons like these that I don't see why we should need a law. I wish that people would stop texting and driving simply because of the horrible consequences that can come from it. Imagine being a parent at work one day, and all of a sudden you get a call saying that your child had been killed in a car accident. Just by responding to one text, there can be consequences that permanently affect the people and families of the people around you. It's not worth that risk, not to me anyway.