Text messaging has become one of the most prevalent forms of communication. It’s often much easier for someone to respond quickly to a question by texting than to make a phone call but there’s a time and place for everything. Driving is not the place where someone should be writing or responding to text messages.
Texting while driving is extremely dangerous for you and those around you. A person’s life shouldn’t be put at risk so that a text message could be sent. Yet, there are both minor and major injuries that occur because of texting while driving and It’s said that hands-free texting is not a good alternative.
Those who text while driving not only put others at risk but they can be subjected to getting a ticket, having their license suspended, rising insurance costs and sometimes face prison time for injuries or death.
Researchers have stated that there are three types of distractions that happen all at once when as person is driving and texting. The driver doesn’t have their eyes on the road when texting, their hands are not on the steering wheel and their attention is taken away from operating the vehicle.
“The increase in texting while driving at the age when teens can legally begin unsupervised driving was not surprising,” says the study’s lead author Dr. Motao Zhu, of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide. “Graduated driver licensing laws could have an impact on texting while driving behavior: the earlier teens start driving, the earlier they start texting while driving.”
Texting while driving in New strict penalties. The first violation is a $200 fine and five points on a driver’s license plus $92 surcharge. If a driver is ticketed for texting more than once in 18 months, the fine can be $450 and more than 10 points on a driving record which results in a suspended license.
In 2015 the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research notes that 160 people were killed and there were over 30,000 injured in crashes due to an inattentive driver. Nationwide, 3,500 people were killed in car accidents for the same reason in 2016.
One life lost due to a distracted driver is more than enough! It is time that people out down their phones and keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.
The only states that allow texting and driving is: Georgia, Hawaii, Florida and District of Columbia.
Driver’s that are pulled over for texting in other states will be face penalty of the law. As time goes on the list of states that ban texting while driving will get longer. Hopefully, with less attention on cell phones and more on the road there will be a decrease in accidents.
