“Innocent” habits become deadly

Randal Walton
October 19, 2009
Filed under News, Uncategorized

You’re driving down Monroe Road and your phone starts to vibrate on the front seat. You have a text from your best friend.  Answering the text can’t hurt anyone; you’re two minutes away from school anyway.  But, you’re driving. And you’re wrong, driving while texting can hurt you – it can even kill you.

Driving while texting, or DWT, has become one of the top causes of car accidents in America.  Every year, there are 1.6 million car accidents occur involving teens.  336,000 of those accidents are caused by teens trying to simultaneously text and drive.

This topic is gaining more attention because of a British Public Service Announcement (PSA) that gruesomely depicts a teenager getting into a car accident because she is texting and driving, killing four people, including an infant.  The video has yet to be shown in the US, due to extreme opposition.        

However, before this PSA was made, some states had already thought about the consequences of DWT.  It is now banned in fourteen states and in Washington, DC.   On December 1, North Carolina will be the fifteenth state added to that list, banning the sending and reading of text messages and emails.  Although drivers who violate this bill will not receive any points on their license or insurance, they could face a $100 fine and a court hearing.

One does not have to look far to see proof of teens who have been killed by DWT.  On September 6, an East Gaston High School student, Brittany Johnson, was killed in a car accident when she became distracted by her cell phone.

The ban is creating mixed views from the students and teachers at East. 

“I do think that driving while texting is dangerous, but I don’t think that the government should tell us what we can and cannot do,” history and psychology teacher Christian Fuller said.

However, senior Emily Absher has a more definite answer. 

“I think the ban is a good idea,” she said.  “Texting and driving at the same time is extremely dangerous.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that, “Per mile driven, teen drivers ages sixteen to nineteen are four times more likely than older drivers to crash.” 

To put it into simpler terms, teenagers are more likely to get into a car accident than their parents.  Teens spend an average of five seconds looking at a text message while driving.  At a speed of fifty-five miles per hour, a driving and texting teen can travel the length of a football field!

DWT is not only becoming a trend, but also an epidemic.  DWT is actually more dangerous than drunk driving, which is one of the leading causes of car accidents.  North Carolina’s DWT ban and the British PSA are sure to make teens understand that texting while driving kills.  It’s not a joke and you’re not getting pranked.  It’s a reality – a very dangerous reality. 

“I’ve personally lost people because of DWT,” senior Angela Freeman said.  “You may think you know what you’re doing, but you don’t.”