What Are Our Concerns About Texting and Driving?

It is without question that we millennials are much more daring, than past generations, and believe that we are invincible. This is why we do things like jump of buildings and hang off mountains for fun. While it may look appealing to the eye, there are so major consequences that come along with this boost in confidence. Recklessness, stupidity, and confrontation. Texting and driving issues are no exception. Somehow, teens today are not embarrassed to say that they take part in something that kills 11 teens every day, and injure over 330,000 people, (according to textinganddrivingsafety.com), not to mention being against the law. Because they have gotten away with it on certain occasions, they believe that it could never happen to them. What they don't realize, or even care to think about is the fact that one in every four cars get in accident due to texting and driving, (according to textinganddrivingsafety.com).
If you couldn't tell, I am strongly against texting and driving, and distracted driving at all for that matter. I was in a car once with a woman who was on her phone while driving, and her youngest daughter was sitting in the backseat and fiddling around with the door unlocked the car door and opened it in the middle of the highway. Since she wasn't paying attention, once she heard the door open she turned her head back to look and brought the wheel with her. The car made a 180 degree turn on the highway, and although it was empty, if she wasn't on her phone she would have been able to hear her daughter playing with the door and handle the situation better. Although I have never been in a crash it was still a traumatic event and I want to make this number less. As i said before 11 people every single day, are killed from drivers distracted by something. That means that in 81 days the entire population of brookfield high would be gone in less than 90 days. People do not understand that statistics exist unless they are applied to them. According to Edgarsnyder.com, 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving. That means that 25% of cars will get in an accident from texting and driving. Why is it that people think that they will not be one of those people. What makes people think that they will not be that 25%.
Texting while driving causes a 400% increase in time spent with eyes off the road, which is normally 5-6 seconds. That is the span of driving a football field with your eyes closed. Most people would have not as many worries about doing this, but the odds that you are reading the text in a completely empty road, are as unlikely as a three way tie in the price is right. When asked again if they would drive a football field length with their eyes closed while surrounding traffic, most people pass on the offer.
Adding on to the fact that we think we are invincible, most teens think that because they see their parents doing it that it is okay that they start doing it. Although it may seem highly hypocritcal for them to tell you not to do it, and then go and do it, edgarsnyder.com says Teen drivers are 4x more likely than adults to get into car crashes or near-crashes when talking or texting on a cell phone. Maybe it is because of the fact that they have been driving much longer than us teenagers, but it is statistically proven that teens are more likely to get in a crash due to texting and driving than an adult is. But no, since we think that we are all that and untouchable, most people’s excuses is, “Well i have seen my parents doing it all of the time and they never get into an accident so i tried it out, and i haven’t gotten into an accident yet so I’m all good.” This excuse is garbage along with the whole idea of texting and driving as a whole
I think that we, Brookfield, should be the town that stops texting and driving. That makes people embarrassed to say that they text and drive. Our roads should reflect how safe our town is.