Letter to Editor: (INSERT SECOND CHANCE HERE) When texting and driving, small talk can lead to life-changing results

Rylee Blakesley
CFHS Senior

 

To: Best friend šŸ˜€
Sent From: YOU
ā€¦on my way!Ā  c u soon šŸ™‚ OMG btw I almst forgt did u want me 2 brng nethang 4 2nite!?? šŸ™‚

ā€¦ā€¦Bam!
You just spent a total of 4.6 seconds to text your best friend about what to bring for tonight while driving at 55 miles an hour. 4.6 seconds does not seem like very much time at all, but little do you realize in 4.6 seconds, traveling at 55mph, you just went a little over the length of an entire football field. That is plenty of time to send a text message, but is it enough time to see the upcoming intersection and the red light?
ā€¦ You look up once you finish your text and hit the send button, just in time to see you ran a red light and are headed straight toward crossing traffic. You see a van inches in front of your vehicle.

Smash. Crunch. Bang.

It all happened so fast you couldnā€™t tell what was happening. You black out. You wake up a few moments later to the loud sound of a machine gnawing on your door just like a pit-bull viscously gnawing on its bone. You look around, but everything seems to be in a blur.

All you can see is a puffball that looked cushiony but was actually hard as a rock when it exploded out of your steering wheel. You seem to be swimming in shards of glass. You try to scream but canā€™t. Your airbags are blocking your vision out the windows and windshield. How can you see whatā€™s going on around you? All you hear is that obnoxiously loud noise coming from a machine from the rescue team trying to get you out. Where in the world is your phone? How are you going to call 911?

You black out. Every year there are more than half a million calls to 911 to report car accidents caused from a driver that was texting, and over 6,000 are resulted from these accidents.

Doo ā€“ doo ā€“ doo ā€“ doo ā€“ da – da! ā€¦Ding!

You wake up to the sound of your phone going-off on a stretcher next to you. You are now in the back of an ambulance. You try to sit up, but you canā€™t. You try to speak, but you canā€™t. So you listen. Where in the world did a baby come from? You listen some more. You hear another child crying. Then you realize what you are looking at, you remember your phone went-off earlier. So you check itā€¦

From: Best Friend šŸ™‚
hey girly! where r u!??? weā€™ve been waitin for like 1 hr now :p r u comin or wat!?
ā€¦ Then you remember how this happened. You were going to a party at your friendā€™s house (which you will no longer be attending). You wanted to know if you needed to bring any chips or pop or anything. You took your eyes off the road for a few seconds, a few seconds too long. It all started coming together. Your phone caused this to happen. YOU caused this to happen.

The party, the text, the few seconds you took your eyes off of the road, the intersection, the red light, the van.Ā  It was YOUR entire fault! YOU sent that text! YOU are now responsible for killing a family of four. You are no longer just a teenager living a regular life going to hang out with your friends later; you are now a KILLER. In 2009, there was a recorded amount of about 515,000 injuries due to car accidents with drivers that were texting; out of that amount, 11,773 were children.

Your life is forever changed. The family you killed has a family whose lives are now changed. All of those other cars full of people lives at that intersection will never be the same again. A car accident affects all of those involved and around to see ā€” especially if it were to be as tragic as the one you ā€œcaused.ā€
Texting kills. You need to start realizing it. Itā€™s not ā€œcoolā€ to text while driving, unless you think itā€™s ā€œcoolā€ to kill. Next time you are driving, put your phone down. It can wait. If you really want to get to that party, donā€™t text. Donā€™t do anything that may cause you not to be able to go. If you really need to send a text or read one, please pull off the road or park somewhere. Is a text really worth costing your own life or somebody elseā€™s? I hope you answer, ā€œNo,ā€ to that question.

4.6 seconds seems like plenty of enough time to send one whole text, but it is also plenty of enough time to cause tragedy, pain and to change lives forever. You canā€™t always take back your mistakes. Sometimes you donā€™t get a second chance. And neither do your victims.

From: Best Friend šŸ™‚
… sooo I guesss ur not comin 2nite … o well :p ttyl girly

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