Imagine yourself driving to class. Suddenly, you hear that familiar “beep” of receiving a text message. Although the early morning traffic is heavy – cars shooting in and out in front of you, people speeding – you reach over to pick up your cell phone and read the text message anyways.
“What r u up 2?” says the text from your best friend.
“Driving 2 class,” you type in reply, then look up from your cell just in time to see the red traffic light ahead that you’re about to drive through. Heading fast towards an intersection of rushing traffic, you slam on the brakes. Another close call, and another time you lived to tell about it…only to text again later.
Everyone texts. It’s fast, easy and addictive. But is it becoming too much of a danger to you and those around you?
Sure, it’s quicker than talking on a phone, and more convenient. Anywhere you are, loud or quiet, you can send an important text and get a response within seconds. But are people taking too much advantage of the “anywhere” part of texting? Commonly said, “There’s a time and a place for everything.” That includes texting, and driving is not the time or the place.
Before texting became so popular and widely used, people would drive along with a cell phone up to their ear chatting away, and that definitely was and is hazardous; but compared to texting while driving, talking on the phone while driving seems harmless.
However, many people, especially teens, can’t seem to wait to get parked before flipping open their cell to read a message, and even reply to it, while driving. If you Google “texting accidents,” many news stories involving texting drivers killing others or being killed themselves will appear. It takes one second, and one wrong move for an accident to happen. Driving without any distractions and your full attention focused on the road can be dangerous enough, but add in unnecessary dangers like texting, and you just put yourself at an even higher risk of crashing.
Recently, news reports said that the operator of the train that collided into another train on September 12, 2008, killing twenty-five people and injuring even more, had sent a text message twenty-two seconds before the crash. Could that text have caused many lives to be lost and even more people to mourn over those lost lives? Do you think that text message was really worth what resulted seconds after it was sent? I don’t think so.
A 14-year-old Florida boy stepped into the path of a car when he was texting while crossing a road. He didn’t see the car because he was looking down at his phone. That text message caused his life to end far too early.
Stories like those lead a person to realize how quickly lives can be lost. Accidents happen everyday, but we should do what we can to prevent any unnecessary ones. So protect yourself and those around you by waiting until you’re one-hundred percent sure that it’s safe to read and respond to the next text message you receive.