Dangers of Texting While Driving

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Samantha is on her way home from work, driving 55 mph, and her husband texts her to see if she can pick up some milk from the grocery store for supper. She grabs her phone and reads the message. She looks up at the road before she replies to him and she is head on with another car 10 feet away from her, she slams on the breaks and swerves to try to miss the car. She rolls her car three times, landing in the ditch, where the car is upside down. The gentlemen in the other car calls 911. Police, ambulance, and fire trucks show up at the scene. Samantha is pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband receives a call from the officer on the scene telling him his wife is dead. When you are behind the wheel and you get a text message, is it worth risking your life to answer that text immediately? Our society should really know the dangers of what can happen if you are texting behind the wheel; you are not only putting your life at risk, but all the other people on the road at the same time as you. Not everyone realizes how dangerous it is to text while driving. In an article called “New Approaches to End Texting While Driving” Officer Pennings said “drivers who are texting are twice as likely to crash as those driving under the influence of alcohol.” (Approaches) Officer Pennings called this “intexticated.” Intextication is under the influence of your phone, or your phone never leaves your hand; similar to intoxication, which is under the influence of alcohol. Officer Pennings is part of the Impact Teen Drivers Program and he goes to high schools and presents the dangers of texting while driving. He believes that it is more important to present information about texting and talking on the phone than driving after drinking (Approaches). Tee... ... middle of paper ... ...ay Traffic Safety Administration | Texting and Driving. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. . "Distracted Driving | State Laws | Texting and Driving." Distracted Driving | State Laws | Texting and Driving. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. get-the-facts/state-laws.html>. "Editorial." Sheboygan Press. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. . Grohol, John. "Why Texting While Driving Bans Are the Wrong Solution Doomed to Fail | World of Psychology." Psych Central.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. . "New Approaches to End Texting While Driving." Professional Safety 58.9 (2013): 16. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.

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