Texting While Driving
By Bob Branco
People love to text. That’s obvious. It is a fast and convenient way to communicate with smart phones. It is wonderful. As is the case with other recent inventions, I’m totally amazed at what we can do today.
While many of us enjoy texting, some people forget about choosing the right time. For example, when you’re driving your car, both eyes must be focused on the road so that you won’t endanger your life as well as the lives of your passengers. It is one of the first things you learn in drivers’ education. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the most important factor when driving.
However, some drivers feel they can do many things at once, so they try to prove it by taking out their smart devices while the car is moving. Perhaps they hear the signal on their device which indicates a text message from someone. Is this text message so urgent that you have to answer it before you stop the car? Back in the day, we got along quite well without cell phones, and messages had to wait to be responded to until we either stopped the car or arrived at our destination. Believe it or not, this was perfectly all right. Nobody panicked, and we managed to get through our day quite easily.
There are many serious accidents that take place because someone is texting behind the wheel of a car. I’m glad that there are new laws forbidding this behavior, and they should be enforced as much as possible. In fact, the punishment for violating these texting laws should be as great as those which forbid driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In a sense, texting is like a drug in two ways. It’s very habitual, and it causes you to not be focused on something much more important
With all the amazing technology out there, I am surprised that no one has invented a vehicle with software that will shut off your phone when the engine starts and won’t turn it on again until the engine stops. Why would this be so hard to accomplish? I’m not saying that you can never use your cell phone on the road. The technology is here, and there are emergencies that happen. My point is that if you need to make that phone call or send an important text, for God’s sake, stop your car first!
(Originally published in Word Matters)
