| Driving
is a very serious and life threatening privaledge that myself and my
friends take anvantage of. I have noticed in the past few years I have
been driving that talking on the phone and texting while driving is
becoming a more serious problem. So many of my friends, other
teenagers,who have been in accidents for reasons like drunk driving,
falling asleep at the wheel, running off the road, but most of them
have to do with texting while they are driving. One of my close friends
just had to go pay a $300 ticket because he was texting & not
paying attention and ran into the back of an older lady. Not only does
he have to pay the ticket, he also has to pay for her car to get
repaired. As any college student would know, doing something stupid to
waste money puts a "hurtin' on your pocket" & gets your parents
EXTREMELY mad at you. |
One of my close friends
just had to go pay a $300 ticket because he was texting |
| I have been
really REALLY close to running into the back of someone at a red light
for not paying attention |
I have been
lucky in my few years of driving not
to have gotten a ticket or been in an accident, and i am embarrassed to
say i am one of many that text and drive. I have been
really REALLY close to running into the back of someone at a red light
for not paying attention, and I just thought to myself that i should stop
texting and really pay attention because i could hurt myself or other
people. it wasn't until my friends started having wrecks that i really
thought about it-and the fact that i have a new car that i cannot let
anything happen to. |
I
have
noticed when riding with friends, as soon as thier phone makes the
slightest noise whether it be a text or a phone call they check it
right then, no matter what the driving conditions are. All my friends
and I at times, seem to think that we can multi-task while driving. We
all just grab our phones and text the person back while doing mulitple
things as turning the radio, putting on make-up, smoking, looking for
something or many other things. None of my friends even think about it
anymore; it is just natural for us to write back. We could be missing
really good gossip or the plans for the night, right?
At the time,
that seems so important, but you can ask 17-year-old Patrick SIms from
Colorado how important a text message was to him one day. While tending
to a text message, Sims struck a bicyclist on the side of the
road. He was sentanced nine days in jail and 300 hours of
community service that was served in telling others his story and how
he learned from his mistake. (http://www,paramuspost.com/article.php/20061124185607549)
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At the time,
that seems so important but you can ask 17-year-old Patrick SIms from
Colorado how important a text message was to him one day. |
| Would you think that texting is better than driving drunk? |
It is possible that both examples of "driver inattentiveness" can end in the same sad story?
Look for yourself!
|
A
study at the University of Utah found that talking on the phone and/or
texting causes the same inmpairments as driving drunk and later a study
at the University of Virginia found that people who used thier phones
while driving were more likely to have a wreck. (http://www,paramuspost.com/article.php/20061124185607549) Seems like common
sense, right? To my friends and I it is common sense so why do we still
choose to do it? When we turned sixteen and got behind the wheel we
thought nothing bad would ever happen. We had finally gotten to the
point in our lives to be able to drive. It made us think we were so
grown up and mature, but it really shows how immature we were and still
are. Anyone who does not think about the other's lives you are putting
in danger when you look at your phone is just immature. My friends and
I have confidence in ourselves that we have enough control to be able
to look at our phones, text and drive at the same time but there is
only 1.3 seconds in brake time. That is just enough time to look down
at your phone and to look back up to notice you are running into the
back of someone or running off the road. (http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_new/stories/2007/07/19/textmsg.ART_ART_07-19-07_B/_707AQBV.html)
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It made us think we were so grown up and mature, but it really shows how immature we were and still are. |
Using
a phone while driving is still a serious problem but technology has
come a long
way to improve this hazard. There are new cars that can sync your phone
to the car so you never have to touch your phone while driving. Of
course, this is a new addition to vehicles and it is expensive,
but it is a great idea; a hands-free way to use a phone while
driving. There is also the new Bluetooth headsets that are very
helpful in the hands-free cell phone. However, this does not help with
texting but it has improved the driving and talking on the phone.
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