The Dangers of Texting: On the Road and off

.

Last 3 stories in News

• Gang Life: What's the story? - February 12, 2010
• Haiti recovery begins - February 10, 2010
• AP, Advanced Placement or Another Political move? - February 9, 2010

Other stories that might interest you...

• When infatuation turns criminal
• What’s the problem here?
• Drama Club’s first performance is a success
• Where did the Pop go?!?!
• Pratik Patel- Staff Writer

Written by Casey Truman , Staff Writer

How many people do you know text while driving? Do you yourself text while driving?

We’ve all heard the stories, and heard the facts: Texting while driving is dangerous. About 56% of teens text while driving (note: These statistics are based on teens who volunteered; the true percentage is higher.)

-Jan. 7th: “When Alex Brown, 17, died… authorities told her parents she was texting on her cell phone while driving, and she wasn’t wearing a seat belt.”

-Jan. 28th: School teacher lost control of her truck on the interstate; police add the fact that she was texting seconds before the actual crash as a contributing factor to her death.

-Jan, 22nd: A student is tried in court for vehicular Homicide, after killing his teacher when, “checking his phone for a text.”

The death toll continues to rise and the ages of those which are victims in these headlines, are usually within the range of 15-20.

Texting accidents are not just limited to cars, and/or trucks. An airplane pilot was just reprimanded for texting while flying a plane straight past the airport and didn’t reroute until the airport notified him that he had overshot the landing sight by 250 miles. This not only caused a major inconvenience for the passengers but it put them in danger. If it wasn’t for the airport to check in on the pilot, the airport could have called National security and they could have shout down the plane.

Here is another one, my very good friend David was hit by a car in his neighborhood by trying to protect a 2 year old that would have died on impact. The little boy walked away with only a broken arm. David nearly died at the age of 8 years old , he was held at the hospital for the critical conditions he had sustain from the car accident for more than 2 months. The woman who hit him was drinking and texting at the same time. She could have killed one of those children that day.

Texting no longer is just a fun way to just talk to your friend but it is a way to get yourself killed for not paying enough attention to your surroundings. I know that half of you will disregarded this story by the title but I say as a friend to most of you be careful because the first time you slip up…… it might be your last.