Within the last year, two people close to me have been in car accidents. Although this seems terrifying in and of itself, it makes it much worse that they were both hit by a driver who had been texting. It seems redundant to go on and on about why texting and driving shouldn't even be a thought in someone's head, but it seems no matter how many accidents we have globally each year, (1.6 MILLION accidents a year to be exact)- there are still idiots out there that instead of pulling over to respond to an email, pick up their phones while operating a vehicle. Maybe if the statistics are all in the same place, people will wake up.
330,000 injuries a year. I don't even know that many people. On Facebook, I have 1,800 friends. People that have passed through my life, or I had mutual friends with at some point. Multiply that by 183, and you have about 330,000. There are only 19 average shark attacks a year. 459 people get struck by lightening around the world. These are natural things that generally cannot be avoided. Meanwhile, when a driver picks up a cell phone, you instantly let yourself become part of that statistic.
1 out of 4 car accidents are caused by texting and driving. That means 25% of car accidents, between fender benders and totaling your brand new car the day after you got your license. How embarrassing is it to total your or your parent's car just because you needed to tweet about that squirrel that you just ran over, or how your jam is on in your car and it's the best day of your life.
Unfortunately, most of the time, when there is a car accident involving texting and driving, the person that was texting isn't hurt. The guilt that these drivers must feel will hopefully never dissipate. The sick part is that most of these drivers don't feel guilty. They think "it's just an accident". Texting and driving is NOT an accident. What is an accident is that someone trusted you with a vehicle.
People think that drunk driving is a bigger problem. While it is indeed a problem, you are 6 times more likely to be affected by a driver who is texting than a driver who is intoxicated. Instead of taking away people's keys when they're drunk, we should be taking away phones before they step into a vehicle. Put it in the glove box, lock it up, turn it off, whatever you have to do to not be tempted to potentially take someone's life by that one text you wanted to send.
10% of all drivers ages 15-19 are affected by this distraction in some way. We are growing up in a world where we're making it okay to promote this kind of behavior. I for one, have a sister who is looking to get her license in a little over a month. While I am scared enough that she is going to accomplish this big thing in her life, I am more scared that people in her generation will think it's okay to text and drive. It's like how smoking was perceived by kids in the 50-70s, it seems cool, until it kills you.
Texting while driving is the leading cause of death among teenagers. That's right. Not smoking. Not drugs. Not cancer. There is no cure for someone who texts and drives. Until you take the oath to put down your phone, you are no different than anyone else who does it. Whether you have the newest model or the crappiest car on the planet, you are not above anyone if you pick up that phone and distract yourself.
Driving is not a right, it's a privilege. Just because you don't know the person that you hit, doesn't make it any less disgusting that you felt you need to pick up the phone and respond at that moment. There are no exceptions, you are not better than anyone else at texting-and-driving. For the love of God, do yourself and everyone on the road the service and keep the phone away. It can wait. I promise.