Texting and Driving

To Whom It May Concern,

Safety is an issue that is important to everyone. I believe car safety is so essential. My parents have always stressed the point that paying attention while you are driving can save my life, or anybody else’s life if something were to happen while driving in a car. I have extended family members who were brutally hurt or even killed while driving because they did not pay attention while they were driving.

My mom taught me to drive. She said that, “Never pull out on a four lane road even if a car is on the inside lane and the outside line is empty.” Even in a parking lot you always have to watch your surroundings. I was at Walmart the other day and there was a car stopped in one of the isles, while another car was backing out of a parking place. The car that was backing up ran right into the car that was stopped. I knew what was going to happen before it really happened. Both of the men got out of their vehicles and looked to see if there was any damage thankfully there wasn’t. So they shook hands and went their separate ways.

Texting and Driving don’t mix! You hear about so many accidents that were caused by texting and driving. The other day we were driving on US 65 on our way to Branson, Missouri from ice skating and when we got about halfway in between the two intersections there was a fire truck with their lights on they were telling all of the other drivers to go into the left lane. I was really curious why. But when we got around the curve I could see fire trucks, ambulance, and police cars all with their lights on of course. When we got close enough to see what had happened, I gasped! There was a minivan with the back of it almost completely gone, the other car’s front was all crunched up. After we went through the crash I knew what probably happened. I told my friends “The minivan was stopped at the stoplight and the car was texting and driving, and the car didn’t look up and see that the light was red and ran right into the back of the minivan. Which came to find out three days later that a man and his 4 year old daughter were in the minivan. The daughter after three days of life support her mom and dad had to make the horrible decision to take her off. It bothered me all day after my mom told me about it.

The fact that Texting and Driving or just not paying attention to what you are doing is the most common thing that you see today on the road. In fact, in 2019, distracted driving was a reported factor in 8.5% of fatal motor vehicle crashes. (NHTSA) In 2015, there were 3,477 people killed and an estimated additional 391,000 injured in crashes involving distracted drivers. In 2019, 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving. Cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. 21% of teen drivers involved in fatal accidents were distracted by their cell phones.