Would you like to be a statistic? Would it make your life’s impression more memorable and everlasting?
Then hop in the driver’s seat, hit the road toward your next destination and pull out your cell phone. Check that text message, submit that status, record that Snapchat, and tweet that perfectly worded tweet. But don’t forget to say your final goodbyes to friends and family members first.
Texting and driving claims an average of 11 teen lives each and every day, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Fatality Facts. That leaves 11 families grieving and incomplete on a daily basis, questioning how and why this could have happened to their beloved child. There will be 22 parents who will never see their son or daughter walk across the stage and graduate.These parents will never see their child standing at the altar or even have the privilege of spoiling their grandkids.
Hypothetically, if this trend happened on UCF’s campus, with more than 61,000 students enrolled, our current population would cease to exist in just 14 short years. Numbers like these seem outrageous and the idea that students would even risk reading a text message, let alone replying to one, seems just the same.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. Drivers are speeding, slamming on their breaks for stopped traffic and ultimately running red lights at the intersection of University Blvd and Alafaya Trail simply due to these distractions.
Numerous drivers check their phone because ‘it’ll just take a second.’ Some are looking up into their mirrors or looking down, presumably at their radios. Accidents can happen in the blink of an eye and they too, ‘just take a second.’
Drivers answer their phones so they won’t miss a call without realizing how quickly accidents actually happen. Looking down so you can ‘swipe to answer’ may be quick but in those five seconds, you missed plenty along the roadside. Anyone could have jumped out or fallen in front you, a child may have chased after their toy or an animal might have unknowingly run into your path. People fail to understand that if you drive distracted for just five seconds while looking at something other than the road, you still need time to react when you look up.
In a harsh reality, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute reports that texting while driving is equivalent to driving completely blind for five seconds.
Texting and Driving Safety adds that if the distracted driver were traveling at 55 mph, they would travel the length of an entire football field in those five seconds without ever laying eyes on the road. If you were to sit on one end zone at Bright House Networks Stadium and I sat at the other, there’s no way we could even hear each speak. I couldn’t imagine driving that distance without ever seeing the road.
No matter how you hash it, texting and driving is endangering lives. Drivers are selfishly risking their own life, carelessly risking other people’s lives and ultimately breaking the law, all because of their impatience.
Lives are more important, memories are more important and you are more important than texting and driving. Put down the phone and arrive safely at your destination without replying to that text, answering a phone call or applying that final touch of makeup. Your unintended destination could easily become your final destination. It can wait.
