Persuasive Essay On Texting And Driving

537 Words2 Pages

“Texting while driving is the act of reading, viewing, writing, or sending text messages via cell phone while operating a motor vehicle.”(1) Texting and driving is one of the leading causes of death in America. Texting while driving is a danger to yourself and the people around you and to your wallet. Similar to seat belt laws, texting and driving is not a national law but instead a state law. There are currently only 44 of the 50 states with laws against texting while driving, some stricter than others. Two states that have no law against texting and driving are Arizona and Montana. According to the Azdot, Arizona had a total of 116,609 crashes in 2015, whereas Oregon, which does have laws prohibiting texting while driving, according to …show more content…

Depending on the state you will receive a mandatory fine of between $20 and $500. In some states texting and driving results in criminal misdemeanor charges or jail/prison time if you caused an injury or death to another driver. You can also receive points on your drivers record, suspension or revocation of driving privileges, or vehicle impoundment. You can also be required to attend road safety classes. The more times you receive citations for texting while driving the worse the punishment is, for example a higher fine or a longer jail sentence. Texting while driving is a major distraction to you and greatly increases your chance of crashing your vehicle. According to Edgar Snyder, texting while driving causes a 400 percent increase in time spent with your eyes off of the road. Texting and driving cause you to take your eyes off of the road and off of the cars around you and it forces you to take one or more hands off of the steering wheel. Texting while driving also takes your mind off of driving, leaving vulnerable to make mistakes. According to Edgar Snyder, answering a text takes your attention away from the road for approximately five

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