The Dangers of Texting and Driving

In today's time, we all want to stay connected to our family, friends, and loved ones, now even more than ever. With the boom in technology and smart phones, it is no surprise that just about everyone has one. With those advances, we are able to keep in touch and stay connected with everyone by calling, sending emails, using social media, and by texting. Even though it may be easy and convenient to stay connected, and even though there are many other positive effects of technology, there also comes many negative effects are there comes great dangers to include texting and driving. There are both positive and negative effects when driving as well, when adding texting and other distractions in while driving, the negative effects, and dangers are increased a lot more. Calling and texting while behind the wheel has become increasingly common for many drivers in today's society, and just as it can become common, it has led to many distractions, more accidents, and more fatalities.

One cardinal rule of driving has always been to keep both hands on the wheel. While driving, even with the car on cruise control, sometimes we forget how much of a risk we are taking as we are not only responsible for our car, we must stay protected and cautious of those around us as well. Even though we only think of the temporary satisfaction or benefit that we have from driving, we often don't think of how we put ourselves, other drivers, and pedestrians at risk. Driving requires a lot of focus and it requires our full and undivided attention. Texting and driving places you at risk because you are taking your eyes off the road, you are taking your hands off of the wheel, and evening more you are taking your mind off of driving. Distractions such as texting or even calling can cause some of the smallest or some of the most life threatening, life altering issues. It is no surprise that texting while driving takes your concentration off the road and with the distractions, even for a second, it could have consequences some minor, while others can bring on serious consequences. With just a second of texting, we can miss important signs or messages on the road, it can lead to speeding which can lead to very expensive tickets. In addition to speeding fines and tickets, distracted driving also leads to higher insurance premiums which add up to be a lot over time. To some, that risk may be minor, but another serious consequence for distracted driving is that it can lead to jail time. It does not matter how good of a driver you may think you are or how good your driving skills may be, unless you are capable of equally concentrating on multiple things at one time (which is not possible), you will be distracted when doing anything other than focusing on the road, and that places you and others at a serious risk.

Accidents on the road can happen and anytime and for a number of reasons, but it is no surprise that if texting and driving leads to more distractions, those distractions also leads to more accidents and more fatalities. Over the years, as technology has advanced and with more ways to stay connected, combined with people that refuse to make the right decision, the rates and statistics of texting related deaths have drastically increased. While checking messages and emails, making phone calls, or even sending the shortest message, so many things can go wrong. Just the slightest distraction can cause someone to run off the road causing them to run off the road, hit another car, or even hit a pedestrian, Those distractions combined with high speeds, a tiny click of the finger can cause many to be critically injured or it can cause someone to lose their life. According to Luke Ameen, 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United Stated are caused by texting and driving, 421,000 are injured in car crashed that have involved a driver who is distracted in some way, and 37,000 people die in auto accidents every year due to being distracted or texting while driving and those numbers are expected to increase over the years. Texting or reading a message takes your eyes off the road for a minimum of three seconds and within those short seconds someone can lose their lives or sustain life threatening injuries that they would have to live with for the rest of their lives. Even if all of those drivers are not at fault, they could have probably avoided the accident if they were not distracted by texting.

In an effort to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities caused by distracted drivers, people can take simple steps to help save lives. Although auto accidents take place every day and for a variety of reasons, distractions seem to cause more of a problem so if we limit or stop the distractions we can prevent accidents and help to save more people. While driving it is important for people to save the distractions for later. People have been encouraged to put their phones on silent or to turn them off, they can put their phones out of their reach such as in the glove compartment, back seat, or their trunks, or they can take other measures such as downloading apps that would prevent them from using the phone when it has been detected that their vehicles are in motion. While these are just a few things that can be done, people should do what is best for them. While these actions may seem extreme to some, saving their life or the lives of others is more important. Most states and insurance companies have also put policies and other actions in place that will assist with reducing the number of fatalities causes by texting or distracted driving. Most states have provided discounts for safe drivers while other states are issuing fines and some go to the extreme of jail time if drivers are caught texting or using their phones while driving. When driving, we are faced with enough dangers. Even though we want to stay connected to our friends, family, and loved ones, all it takes is a few seconds to never be able to get that opportunity again. While behind the wheels, taking simple actions can help save our life or the life of others. There are several options that we can take to cause an accident and just the same, there are several options that can be taken to prevent them from happening as well.