Texting While Driving is a Deadly Combination Texting and driving is a bad and dangerous thing for a teenager to do. Texting while driving is one of the ways that teens are injured or worst case scenario, killed. Every year 6,000 people die because of distracted driving and almost half a million suffer severe injuries. If the teenagers that died texting while driving were still alive; I’m sure they would’ve thought twice about texting behind the wheel. If you text or talk while driving, then think to yourself. Is any text message really worth dying over?

If you think you have mastered the art of texting or talking behind the wheel, think again. In reality, one phone call makes you four times more likely to get in a car accident; the same chances of crashing while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. As if that doesn’t seem scary enough; think about being eight times more likely to get into an accident while texting on the road. The reason for this is because drivers become engrossed in their conversation; instead of focusing on the road in front of them. People who think they can multitask are wrong.

As complex as our brain may seem; it is not capable of processing a conversation at the exact same time as concentrating on driving. Reading or writing a text message or e-mail actually reduces reaction time by 35%. Driving is an everyday activity that requires full attention, from the minute you get in the car to the minute you get out. Even if you are just glancing at your phone to check a text message; one split second later your life or someone else’s life could be gone. Take Earman Manchando for example. Earman was a thirteen year old boy who was harmlessly riding home from school one afternoon on his bicycle.

He was tragically hit by a 31-year-old father of four who was text messaging. He did not notice Earman as his car swerved onto the side of the road. A minute later, he looked up to realize he had killed a harmless boy whose life did not deserve to end at such a young age. The man who hit Earman was charged for motor vehicle homicide; but his consequence was bad enough. For the rest of his life, he would have to live with the fact that he killed a young boy; who could’ve just as easily been a kid of his own. Imagine of the law prohibited texting while driving in all fifty states. The number of crashes would most definitely decrease.