Texting while driving poses significant risks and is a leading cause of car accidents. An estimated 20% of drivers send or receive texts while driving, which is more prevalent than drinking and driving. The author provides an anecdote of witnessing a young woman who was so distracted by texting that she blew through a stop sign without noticing. Texting while driving can result in injuries ranging from amputations and brain injuries to fatalities. It is important to raise awareness of the dangers of texting and driving in order to curb this unsafe and illegal behavior.

1. Texting and DrivingBy: Ivan Thompson and Bay Cope

2. Texting and driving kills more people than drinking and driving. People wouldn’t think so because they do it all the time. You see posters that say “DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE”. But really nothing about texting and driving. Cell phones have become so popular that people don’t think of it as bad as a drug. People probably say “well I mean everyone does it, so I will miss out on something if I don’t answer a text right away even if I’m driving.

3. If you text while driving you have a greater chance of crashing and getting injured or even dying.From 2003 to 2006, car accidents from cell phone use lead to 50 deaths across the state of Pennsylvania.The Effects of texting and driving are:

4. An estimated 20 percent of drivers are sending or receiving text messages while behind the wheel.

5. About three months ago, I pulled up to a stop sign in Falls Church, Va., near where I live. A young woman in a sporty car pulled up beside me. As she pulled up, I noticed she was texting on a cell phone, barely paying attention to what was happening around her. She continued to text through the stop sign and right up to the next stoplight. My car was still next to hers, so I rolled down my window and motioned to her. She looked puzzled and rolled hers down as well. I told her that she was endangering the life of every single person on the road if she continued to text while driving. Her reply was somewhat expected. She made a rude gesture with a certain digit and roared away when the light turned.

6. Types of Injuries: AmputationBack InjuryBrain InjuryBurnsComasEmotional TraumaEye Injuries / LASIK SurgeryFacial InjuryFatal Injury / Wrongful DeathFractures / Broken BonesHead InjuryNephrogenic SystemicFibrosis (NSF)Road Burn InjuryNeck InjuryParalysisRSD SyndromeScarsSpinal Cord Injury

7. There are more people texting and driving than people doing drugs and alcohol.Texting while driving is more harmful than drinking and driving.

8. This is like no other it can hurt other people as well as you and it is illegal in 13 different states.66% of teens text while driving and there will be more unless we stop it now!

9. These are some of the crashes caused from texting while driving.

10. www.usnes.com/articles/news/national/2008/02/11/outlawing-text-messaging-while-driving.htmlwww.fcc.govwww.nytimes.comwww.Edgarsnyderandassociates.comhttp://headsets.tmcnet.com Resources