Jorden Falker

English II – Block I

Ms. McKoy

11 September 2013

Is Any Text Worth It?

            Imagine yourself driving down a street; there are runners training for the next marathon, people taking their dogs to the dog park, and kids playing kickball peacefully in the field to your right.  You notice all of this because you’re driving with no distractions.  Now imagine you get a text that you think you can reply to quickly with three simple words, your attention is now focused on answering that text and not the scene around you.  You’re so caught up in answering that message that you do not notice that the runners are crossing on the crosswalk that you are supposed to stop at.  You do not notice that the dog somehow managed to get away from its owner and is running right into the middle of the street.  You do not notice that the kickball was kicked into the road and a child is chasing after it, not paying attention to cars.  Three things that are very important to notice, but you did not see them because you were texting.  You could have ruined someone’s life while answering that text, but you did not.  What about next time?  You got away with it once, so you could do it again, right? Wrong.  Now picture yourself texting and driving again, but instead of almost harming others you are only harming yourself.  You do not see the tree that you are about to run into or that you are headed straight for oncoming traffic.  Texting while driving is like driving with your eyes closed.  It is not a matter of if you will get into an accident because of it; it is a matter of when.  When will you hit something? When will you kill someone?  When will your luck run out?

            Although I have not ever texted while I was driving, I know several people who have before and still continue to do so.  I’ve been in the car with them before and I felt anything but safe.  When I told these people to stop texting while they were driving, I got all sorts of silly replies and responses like “Look! I can still see!” and “No one’s going to get hurt because of it.”  My favorite response would be “Jorden, I’m still in the lines, relax.”  That might have helped me relax if it weren’t for the fact that we WERE NOT staying in the lines.  Like I have said before, texting while driving is like driving with your eyes closed.  You would never close your eyes while driving, right?  When you text and drive, you are doing the same thing basically.

            I have learned multiple things while conducting my research on texting while driving.  During my research, I came across an article that I not only did it immediately catch my eye, but I found the facts shocking.  According to the article “Word to Youth:  Texting, Driving Don’t Mix”, “In 2008, 5,870 people died and more than a half-million were hurt in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver.”  Mariah West was a teenager killed in a car crash the night before graduation because she was texting and driving.  She was on her way to a baseball game while texting the player that invited her when she lost control of her car.  She was partially ejected and her skull was crushed.  The message she died over: “Where U At.” Mariah is not the only one; John Bradley Breen was a young marine and father.  He was home on leave while he was texting and driving.  He was replying “Yeah T-.” when he lost control of his truck and was ejected 200 feet. 

            The facts have been stated.  Texting and driving will kill people.  The question is who?  Who does it kill?  Who does this issue affect more?  You or others?  It’s true that both groups of people are killed from this, but I feel that you are more affected by this.  You can run into the back of cars, into objects like trees and walls, and into oncoming traffic.  Even if you don’t run into those things, you can run over other people and possibly kill them because you weren’t paying attention.  Imagine having to live with the fact that you killed someone because you were too preoccupied texting to notice them.  It seems pretty horrible, doesn’t it?