Dear Editor:

Texting and driving has been the cause of many accidents and deaths around the world. Each year about 1, 300,000 people are killed because of road accidents that is over 3,000 people every day dying in road accidents, according to a recent article “Texting and Driving Statistics.” With the increased use of cell phones and technology, people are having difficulty knowing when to put down their devices and focus on the road.

This issue was not even around over 20 years ago. Technology is constantly adapting and become more a part of everyday life. People need to know the risks of using technology while driving. They are endangering not only their own life, but all the other people on the road. There needs to be some sort of devices or program that will not allow drivers to use their cell phones while they are driving. This type of program would put an end to texting and driving and possibly save thousands of lives.

Texting and driving is a serious problem in the United States it causes 1.6 million crashes each year, which is making texting and driving the cause of every 1 in 4 car crashes, according to a recent article “Texting and Driving Statistics.” The minimal amount of time it takes to send a text message is five seconds.  Clearly, that is five seconds your eyes are off the road, if you are traveling at 55 mph that equals the length of a football field in those 5 seconds with your eyes off the road as illustrated in a texting and driving infographic. When kids of the age 16-17 were surveyed 82 percent of them said they owned a cellphone and over 50 percent admitted to using their phone while behind the wheel, according to a GPS Systems article entitled “Death by Txt”. It is so much of a problem that the U.S. Transportation Department has asked cell phone makers to develop “a ‘driver mode’ that would disable some distracting functions in moving cars,” according to Fortune. This needs to be done in order to put a stop to the accidents.

Many teens do not think using their phone behind the wheel is an issue, but the statistics tell otherwise. Texting and driving is one of the most serious issues in America today and is the cause of too many accidents and even worse deaths. I hope one day we can get get a “driver mode” to block cellphone use in cars installed in every cell phone and save millions of lives each year.

Sincerely,
Kyle Jahnke, senior