I see you every day, and I wish I didn’t. My heart skips a beat whenever I see go through that red light you thought was still yellow. I grasp my steering wheel a little tighter when I see you swivel into another lane, and my mind imagines the worst every time you look down at your cell phone instead of watching the road.

Sometimes, you’re alone; other times you have a car full of your friends. I don’t know which scares me more. Having one or more lives in your hands while driving is a very serious responsibility but every time you glance down at your iMessage you prove that does not matter.

Driving takes constant concentration and even moving your eyes down to see your cell phone’s screen for a mere moment can be fatal. Texting takes visual, manual, and cognitive attention and when you devoted all of that to a message you neglect it while driving.

I am 18-years-old and understand that separating yourself from your device can be difficult but I also understand that apologizing for taking another’s life would be the most difficult. I’m not your mom or dad asking you to put your phone away while driving but a peer begging you to do so. We are all in an era where mail travels at the speed of light and the world is available at the touch of our fingers but all of that makes us susceptible to fall victim to it.

One in five accidents are due to the use of cell phones while driving. Over 3,000 teens were killed this past year due to car accidents involving cellular distractions. That is 3,000 families without a son or daughter. Think about how many more people are affected by this type of tragedy which very well could have been avoidable.

I do not want to say teens are the only generation that are seen texting and driving but they are among the majority. We are a large enough generation that we can make a change in this majority. If you feel as though it is hard to avoid using your phone while driving just turn it off or put it in the back seat. There are so many alternatives to using your phone while driving like blue tooth and hands-free devices. You could even designate another person in the car to be your personal secretary. And if all those options are not available text your friends that you will be driving and will talk to them later or if it is extremely crucial you answer a call or text when it comes in just pull over.

Take out your phone. Go to your last message sent. Read it and think would this message have been worth it? Worth the life of someone or even your own? I hope that you answered ”No!” to each of those questions and that you think twice before picking up your cell phone to answer that text message while driving.

Take the pledge to stop texting and driving and encourage your friends to do the same. We are a strong and powerful generation that can bring an end to tragic events like accidents that result from cell phone use. No text is wroth it!