Texting And Driving Does Not Mix

Many people take the “No Driving While Texting” movement lightly. If you’ve ever been in a car with a person who insists on texting while operating a large motor vehicle and you actually paid attention to their driving habits, you are aware of how dangerous it can be. The distractions may go unnoticed but a second can cost you your life. Their reaction time usually off and they are not paying attention while they are texting. Even if you know where all of the keys on your phone are, you still tend to look at the phone while texting.

Most of my friends and family members know that I’m a bit of a worrisome when it comes to driving by myself or riding with others so I catch them slipping all the time and they conviently play off as if I’m the one with the problem and they were paying attention the whole time. It wasn’t until someone close to me admitted that my overly concerned behavior had actually saved our lives a couple of times, but everyone doesn’t have a person in the passenger seat like me who doesn’t mind coming across a bit crazy in an effort to save lives. Call me what you want but an extra set of eyes are better, especially if the driver is attempting to text and drive at the same time.

Oprah Winfrey recently wrote a guest post for New York Times and the statistics are not only sad but they should be an eye opener.

At least 6,000 people were killed by distracted drivers in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the number is rising.

Although Obama and others are pushing to make this a federal issue so it gets the proper amount of attention, it is up to you; the driver and passengers to look out for yourself and each other. I know many of you think it’s okay to drive distracted and you think those in favor of enforcing this as a law are over doing it and I understand how you feel. Think of it this way……. If you’ve never hit a car or have been hit by a car due to distracted driving, consider yourself lucky but you don’t want to wait until it’s too late. Let’s be proactive people and put the phones down while driving, it’s sure way to save lives.