Tame Your Texting

By Kendall Vaughn

Reporter

The rate of people getting distracted by their phones while driving gradually increases. According to Edgarsnyder, approximately 660,000 people attempt to text and drive everyday.

Over half of the people who attempt to text and drive get into accidents. According to an AAA poll, 94 percent of teen drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving, but 35 percent admitted to doing it anyway. In 2016, 263 teens ranging the ages of 15 to 19 died in a car accident related to texting and driving whether it was them driving or as a passenger.

“People feel like it is necessary to text right away while thinking they won’t get in an accident by just quickly looking away from the road. Although there are already some, more billboards and signs should be put up to constantly remind people not to do it. If they keep getting reminded of how it’s bad, then maybe they’ll finally stop doing it,” said sophomore Juliana Ramirez.

Information received from Obrella.com’s survey of 427 participants states that 67% of women text and drive compared to the 33 percent of men who text and drive. In Illinois, the fee for the first time being caught texting and driving is $75, the second time is $100, $125 for the third and $150 for the fourth and continuing offences.

“I think that the fine for people who text and drive should be higher. The first time a person gets caught, they should get fined $100. Though, it’s not right, some reasons as to why people might text and drive is because it’s a red light or they’re waiting for a train to pass and they’re bored. It doesn’t validate them texting and driving but I’m assuming these are the reasons why it’s being done. People think that they can multitask and use the excuse that they’ve been driving for a while to validate themselves,” said sophomore Sydney Staples.

There are ways states and companies are trying to prevent texting and driving from happening. There has been laws in more than 30 states that bans texting and driving. Another thing that is done that encourages drivers staying off their phones while driving are apps that disable the call and texting feature. It basically blocks users from using those apps while sensing if it is in a moving car. This is good discipline for the driver and forces them off of their phone.

“If it’s that important to text someone so much, you can use siri to relay the message for you without having to look away or pull over to decrease the chances of an accident,” said sophomore Kirsten Hill.