Thousands of car accidents occur every year for various reasons. Sadly, many of them these days are due to drivers texting behind the wheel, and the scariest part is how many of the violators are teenagers and young adults.
One would think drivers would have enough distractions to deal with before tossing cell phones into the mix. It’s not uncommon to see women applying their makeup or men shaving while in their cars.
I sometimes have difficulty concentrating on the road when I have another person in the car who I’m trying to carry on a conversation with, or when I’m doing something as simple as changing the radio station.
Drivers who don’t have much experience are increasing the chance of causing an accident by engaging one or both of their hands, their eyes and their concentration on sending a ridiculous text message that can wait to be sent until they safely reach their destination.
Whether labeling it driving while distracted or driving while texting, it’s a severe problem that endangers anyone near a culprit on the road.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance reported in a 2009 survey that “distraction from cell phone use while driving (hand held or hands free) extends a driver’s reaction as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent.”
It seems logical that doing anything to impair one’s driving would be dangerous, but the study puts a whole new perspective on the growing problem.
It’s become such an issue that cell phone companies such as AT&T and Verizon are launching campaigns complete with commercials, billboards and Facebook pages aimed at convincing people to leave their phones alone while driving.
AT&T has been the forerunner of such programs, producing a series of commercials where the text message a person was reading or writing when they died in a car crash is displayed on a blank screen with a family member narrating in the background. The company also has posted a host of additional information on its Web site.
Cell phone companies aren’t the only entities taking action to prevent people from texting while driving.
City and state governments across the country are on the move to make texting behind the wheel illegal. In the Houston area, the communities of West University and Bellaire have already enacted laws in which “violators (will) be ticketed and risk conviction of a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $500,” Robin Foster of the Houston Chronicle reported.
Texas has also banned the use of cell phones while driving in school zones, with fines of up to $200 levied against violators. Other surrounding cities such as Pearland are also considering laws to prohibit drivers from texting anywhere.
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, “20 states, the District of Columbia and Guam now ban text messaging for all drivers.”
Drivers take enough risks as it is. Reading or typing a text message while driving leaves drivers with no real resource, other than their knees, to keep their car properly on the road.
Anyone considering using a phone to text while they drive needs to think before they pick up their phone. No text message is worth dying over.
Callie Thompson is a communication senior and may be reached at [email protected]
