Ineffective ban on texting while driving

Photo by Ed Brown as Edbrown05 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

 

Lauren Bana/Staff Writer

Almost everyone has felt they had to send out that one text which determines whether or not you really “laughed out loud.”

Most of the time, it does not even need to be sent, especially if you were already on your way to see the person you were texting.

More often than not, the texts that I feel must be immediately sent can wait until I reach a stop or until the car is parked. Unfortunately, a dangerous amount of people my age and I continuously decide to send unimportant text messages that could cost us our lives.

Curiously enough, the Florida State Senate passed a bill on April 16 that bans texting while driving. Naturally, it is a great idea to ban something that puts people’s lives at risk, but placing a ban on something does not mean people are going to stop doing it.

According to Distraction.gov, even knowing of the dangers of driving while texting does not necessarily prevent it. In fact, people believe that “the statistics don’t apply to them, that they can defy the odds.”

There are even some scary statistics on accidents caused by texting while driving, with quite a number of them having been fatal.

Florida Senator Nancy Detert, for example, stated that as many as 11 teenagers are killed a day in the United States because they were texting while driving. Distraction.gov further reports that one is 23 times more likely to crash if texting while driving.

Despite such statistics, people who text while driving will always find a reason to send a text that does not need to be immediately sent.

The dangers of texting while driving do not seem to faze us as a whole, which can easily make it a habit. I do not believe that it can end, despite the presence of a ban, at least not until we come to truly understand how dangerous it really is.

I think that the only foolproof way to eliminate this problem is by starting at the root. By this, I mean showing the dangers of texting and driving to teens before they start driving. Doing so could implant the necessity to be cautious behind the wheel so that it can stay with them beyond their first time driving.

I know that really would have stuck with me when I was getting my license.

English major Christopher Moffett, on the other hand, believes the only possible way to end texting while driving in someone’s life is by being directly affected by it.

“If you had a family member die from driving and texting, then maybe that will stop you from texting, but people are still going to do it,” said Moffett.

What seems like an easily solved problem has actually been, and probably will always be, very difficult to eliminate. The recently passed ban on texting while driving might convince a handful of people to stop, but, for the most part, people are going to drive with their thumbs on the keys, ready to send that text.

 

lauren.bana@fiusm.com

 

Sources:

1. “Florida Senate passes bill to ban texting while driving,” via FIUSM.com 

2. “Get the facts,” via Distraction.gov

3.  “Facts and statistics,” via Distraction.gov