Every single day we wake up to several cars on the road en-route to different destinations. Different people from all walks of life are behind those wheels with a vast range of character and abilities, this, therefore, goes without saying people will all drive differently. It is known that the probability of reaching your destination safely is 50% because there are only two alternatives, you either reach there safe or not. Lots of reasons can cause an accident on the road texting while driving is one of them and that is what my focus is all about today.
Technology has changed the world this is a widely acknowledged fact. Many teenagers in this century are wildly engaged with technology specifically smartphones, as a matter of fact, research conducted by pew research center survey on teens and technology revealed that 88% of teenagers own smartphones, and among this 41% have cars. (Olsen 2013)
Last year in September I applied for a job, I really needed this specific job because it would go a long way in enhancing my CV for future plans that I have luckily, guess what, I qualified to get it. On the first day to work, I am so excited you know it's the first day and I am all guns out ready to make a good first impression because you know, I don’t want to start on the wrong note. So, I am in the car driving to work a text from my bestie comes through, ‘All the best on your first day, kick-ass.’ I am also driving but within a split-second boom! I hit on something, I get out so terrified and it’s a stop sign post, moment of self-reflection just flushed right in front of me what if it was a person? What if? Would that make me a murderer?
We all believe we drive responsibly and avoid all the distractions possible out there but we don’t realize people’s attention is limited by nature and most often we get distracted from noticing things right in front of us (Russel.2014). Cellphones distractions are alarmingly high in our time, texting while driving makes a car accident 23 times more likely to happen because it takes only a minimum of 5seconds to lose a driver's attention from the road. In the united states, 1.6million crashes are reported in a year due to cellphone use by the national safety council, and 390000 injuries are reported as a result of texting while driving caused by teenagers. (Caird 2014)
I get it we all want to reply to these texts and emails on time because our friends always expect a response literally like five minutes maximum to get a response to working with this pressure we feel why not just give it a quick reply plus I have done this severally before and nothing happened because I am very good at it not considering each day Is a new day and experience is always different plus your actions always have a way of catching up with you. (Noyola 2012) Don’t get me wrong I am not trying to come out as preachy all I want is for us to choose our safety before anyone else by avoiding what we can while on the roads especially texting while driving which is a menace.
My experience shook every bit of nerve in my existence and from that day I really became mindful when driving and even when riding with someone I don't allow them to text while driving, by asking them kindly of course since, with human beings, kindness is the key that unlocks all sorts of levels right? you know how my heart feels so good and I go to sleep every day knowing I tried to reduce the number of crashes even by one, yes one.it seems like a little number but imagine if all of us tried to reduce the number of accidents caused by texting while driving just one at a time just imagine the massive change that we will make in this country’s statistics on driving while texting. I am therefore trying to appeal to each and every one of us to try and take part in curbing this monster of texting while driving because it is slowly getting out of hand each and every single day, each and every single day! Going to sleep at night knowing that you are contributing to making the world a whole better place in your own little way is definitely one thing that we take for granted but it's really an amazing feeling, really amazing.
I don't want all of you to think I am here talking about things that don't exist probably because in your circle of friends all of you do text and drive all the time and nothing serious has ever happened to any of you or anyone close to you so there’s no first-hand experience.
References:
Caird.K. et al. (2014) Accident analysis and prevention: a meta-analysis of the effects of texting and driving
Olsen, E. O. M., Shults, R. A., & Eaton, D. K. (2013). Texting while driving and other risky motor vehicle behaviors among US high school students. Pediatrics, peds-2012.
Noyola. E. (2012) Sour apple: the dangers of texting and driving
Russel.W, et al, (2014) distracted driving: the multitasking myth