Picture it. You talk to your best friend one day and the next day she doesn’t call. Time turns into worry. Then all of a sudden High Way Patrol calls your house at three in the morning. Then reality sucker punches you in the face. High Way Patrol tells you your friend is dead due to a distracted driver. As someone who has lost a friend, I know all too well Elizabeth will be gone forever. Vehicles can’t stop on a dime and nothing can replace my friend Elizabeth. Would you use a cellphone if you knew that it would change lives forever? Distracted drivers are the cause of 18 percent of fatal crashes according to the FCC.
This is a travesty. What is even worse is most of them could have been prevented. It should be illegal for a driver to use a cellphone, even hands free. 
Highway patrol said 3,000 teens die each year due to texting and driving. Each teen has a family and is more than just a statistic. This is especially true when a friend or sister dies because someone had to send a text instead of staying focused on the road. In 14 states, D.C, Guam and the Virgin Islands the driver is prohibited from using a cellphone behind the wheel according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association. However this is not a complete cellphone ban. Thirty-eight states ban cellphones for young drivers.
Twenty states ban cellphone usage for all bus drivers. Jenny McCarthy was in the car with her son while texting and driving. Her son called the police on her according to ABC news. Due to the carelessness of McCarthy her son felt both of their lives were in danger. This proves texting and driving is a serious issue. According to a recent poll by Highway Patrol, 90 percent of parents with teens admitted to texting and driving. This same poll also found 78 percent of teens texting and driving. It is our job to obliterate that percentage.
According to a UW blogger, students are able to experience the dangers of texting and driving. UW students can end up speeding, driving off the road or even hitting pedestrians in a simulator. Now take a moment to imagine if, instead of being just a pedestrian, it was a loved one or perhaps a friend? This changes everything doesn’t it? But just how are we going to be able to enforce consequences for distracted drivers? There have been many purposed suggestions to punish drivers for using cellphones. Some that Wyoming Highway Patrol came up with are:
- Stricter punitive punishments
- License loss for six months
- Mandatory jail time of ten days
- Mandatory driver’s ED courses
- Class B Misdemeanor
Texting and driving is distracted driving. At the end of the day each person has a family and spouse. Jane and Elizabeth had sisters, friends, and families that miss them deeply. An “I’m sorry” can’t replace the scars. They can’t be brought back and nothing can replace either one of them. I know we like our phones but there is a time and a place for them. There is however one statistic we all can live with and that is zero fatalities. So what do we need to do? STOP THE TEXTS TO STOP THE WRECKS!
