Compare And Contrast Texting And Driving Vs Drunk Driving

Texting and Driving versus Drunk Driving
It’s a Friday afternoon and you’re driving to the grocery store after work to pick up a pizza to eat later for dinner. All of your weekend plans are on your mind as you make a right turn. You hear your phone go off and quickly unlock your phone to see what plans are happening tonight. Little do you know you won’t have any plans for this weekend because the text you are about to send will end your life. This might sound harsh but this is exactly how all texting and driving stories go. Texting while driving causes a huge 1,600,000 accidents per year (Distracted Driving), and 11 teens die every day from these accidents. It’s highly likely that while you read this paper someone just got into an accident

When you hear someone who got into an accident because they drove drunk, you automatically think, “oh god, they’re in trouble”. Depending on which state you are in you can receive fines starting at $1000 dollars, a dui and even prison time. It gets even worse if someone is killed in the accident. Some states will charge you with manslaughter, or even a second degree murder charge. Pretty much if you kill someone while you are behind the wheel while intoxicated, you are screwed. There’s no easy way to get out of it. But what about the charges for texting while driving? There’s no doubt that texting and driving can cause similar accidents like drunk driving, but the punishments are no where near close. Texting while driving tickets can range from $20 to $500 dollars and can also result in misdemeanor charges (Texting While Driving Laws). I found a news article about a young girl who killed someone while texting and the charges she got, or didn’t get were unbelievable. First of all, the charges were presumed so this means she is innocent until proven guilty and if she’s not proven guilty she only faces 1 year in jail and a $200 dollar fine. This is crazy compared to the thousand dollar fines and multiple years of jail time for killing someone on the road while intoxicated. The worst part about the article was

Many people have admitted to being in a car while someone was texting but how many people have you heard of being in a car while the driver was either intoxicated or on any other drug? The number of people who have been in a car with the driver under the influence is way smaller because when someone is in a car with an under the influence driver, they usually don’t make it out alive. I would way rather be in a car when the driver sends a quick text, rather than be in a car where the driver is so intoxicated they barely know where they are. The media puts such a bad name on texting and driving, which is good, but they never compare texting and driving to being intoxicated and driving. Being under the influence is a totally different mindset from sending a text. When you are under the influence of any drug, you have impaired vision, judgment and sense of direction. You need all of these things when driving. When someone sends a text while driving, they still have all of these things, it’s just that for a few seconds their eyes are off the road. I’m not trying to say texting and driving is a good thing, it’s just that things could be worse. Yes, there is an increase of accidents involving texting and driving, but it’s more likely that teens, or even adults driving home from a party on a Saturday night are more likely