It Starts with You

Imagine this scenario. You’re 17 years old and just got your
drivers license. You head out to your friend’s house and realize
you’ve never felt more freedom in your entire life. You roll the
windows down and listen to music so loud that you can’t hear your
own voice. Your phone goes off making the music stop. It must be your
friend asking about when you’ll be there. You look down to read the
text and the next moment you are upside down skidding across the road
from the impact of another car because you ran through a stop light.
There are thousands of stories like the one you just imagined, but
these are real. Real people are risking their lives to read a text
that probably says “drive safely” or “see you there.”

You’re probably reading this and saying to yourself, “I’ve
never texted while driving, that’s so dangerous. This doesn’t
apply to me.” Before you leave, I want you to think of all the
people around you who could be risking your life by their mistakes.
You may even be thinking that you’ve been driving for 20 years and
can safely change the song or take a phone call, but one moment could
change everything.

State laws have begun to see the pattern of cause for car crashes in
the recent age, but when has a law saying don’t do this while
driving ever stopped us? People still drive while drunk, drive over
the speed limit, and text while driving. So if I can tell you one
thing, please don’t risk it. It’s not worth it. You are risking
not only your own life, but every person around you. This isn’t a
problem that you can just read about and not do anything to change it
because this is affecting thousands of drivers every second. Multiple
sites state that over 300,000 texting and driving crashes lead to
serious injuries.

There comes a moment where you have to say to yourself, “What can I
do about this?” First of all, don’t even risk the temptation
yourself. There are hundreds of apps which silence your phone from
texts and notifications so you can drive safely while still enjoying
Spotify. Another thing you can do is encourage others to do the same.
Before parting ways with friends, tell them to stay safe or even tell
them about the new app you got that keeps you from hearing
notifications while driving. I assure your friends will find it
comforting that you care about them enough to keep them safe. And one
of the final things you can do is talk about it. Not just with people
you know, but spread the word. Texting and driving is one of the
biggest things putting drivers in danger today.

Here’s the thing. I’m only 17 years old and don’t know many
people. So I can’t do it without you. Help me spread the word and
save lives. It starts with you.