Texting While Driving English Paper

You are driving around town when suddenly you get a text. You look down innocently to look at the message; not thinking about the consequences ahead. Suddenly you hear a car honking, and brakes screeching. You look up at the road ahead just as you collide with another car. Now you are barely conscious as you here sirens, an ambulance is rushing you to a hospital. Texting while driving is dangerous to everyone on the road, and it needs to stop. As if driving with distraction wasn't dangerous enough, put a cell phone in the hands of a person behind the wheel and it gets much worse. Vehicle crashes are one of the top causes of death for 15-20 year olds. About 6,000 deaths are caused by distracted drivers every year. Many people, novice teen drivers and older experienced drivers alike, do not take the law of no texting while driving serious enough. Texting while driving is never a good idea because the driver’s attention is no longer on the road. It is dangerous to the public, and it can result in life changing consequences.

Drivers often perform non-driving activities that divert their attention from driving. This could be from conversing with a passenger, dialing or hanging up a cell phone, or having a phone conversation. When drivers are busy reading, or sending a text message they are not giving their full attention to their surroundings. Texting while driving increase the time spent with eyes off the road by about 400 percent. Anything, at any time could happen and it could easily happen in the few seconds drivers eyes are on their phone and not the road.
Teens tend to be the group with the most risky driving habits.

A study found that young drivers who text, take their eyes off the road four times more than other drivers and would veer out of their lane 63 percent more frequently. Looking down from the road for a second seems harmless but it’s not because driving involves full attention. 46 percent of teens say they send text messages while driving. That is 46 percent of teen drivers on the road that are not directing their attention to the road. Texting can be as dangerous as drunken driving. If a driver's eyes are not on the road then they are completely unaware of what is around them. This not only endangers the driver, but other drivers and pedestrians as well. About half a million injuries are caused by distracted drivers every year. When a driver texts while they are driving they must remember that they are putting a person's life at risk. Five seconds could mean someone's life. The combination of texting and driving is extremely dangerous. A person's life is more important than a text message. Most people think that laws against texting and driving are ridiculous, but if they were the victim of a careless driver they would most likely think otherwise. Each year, 21% of fatal car crashes which involved teens were the result of cell phone usage.

Driving with distractions can be very dangerous, and driving safely is something more people should take seriously. People that text while driving; become unaware of their surrounding putting everyone at risk. Texting while driving should be avoided at all cost because it takes a drivers attention off of the road and leaves them briefly out of control of their car, it is dangerous to the public including pedestrians and other drivers, and it can result in life changing consequences.