It seems harmless enough at the time. Your phone goes off while you're driving. You reach for it to answer and begin reading the text you've just received. It only takes a few seconds, but that small amount of time could ruin or end your life.
Deemed a "public health risk" by the American Medical Association, texting and driving is even more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. An unimpaired driver can quickly adapt to traffic and begin to break in about half a second. When a driver is drunk, they need an extra four feet to begin breaking. When the driver is texting, they need an extra seventy feet to begin breaking, which increases the likeliness of an accident by 23.2%, according to a study preformed by the University of Utah.
Senior Kylie Boardman admits to the occasional text while in the driver's seat. "I know it's not very smart. Yeah, we all think we could get away with it, but in the end, we could end up seriously hurting someone."
And she's right. There's approximately 2,600 deaths a year caused by texting and driving and over 570,000 accidents ranging from major to minor injuries.
But whey do people still do it? "It's addicting," said Boardman. "It's a shameful action. You need to be fully conscience of your actions when you're behind the wheel of a two ton car."
In the two to three seconds it takes to take your eyes off the road to scan a text, you are putting yourself at risk of harming yourself and others.
Kimberly Jarvis, junior, used to text and drive frequently.
"I would text about every two minutes in the car, every time a new message came in, I'd read it. I drove an automatic, so it didn't really require much attention."
Five months into her dangerous habit, a near crash opened her eyes to the realities of texting and driving.
"I was texting and I came to a red light. There were more people than I thought in front of me. The guy directly in front of me stopped quicker than I expected, and I almost crashed into him."
Luckily, Jarvis was fortunate and didn't hurt herself or anyone else on the road, which made her much more aware of her surroundings while she drives.
A 2010 study done by The National Safety Council concluded that 28% of all crashes, which is the equivalent of about 1.6 million crashes, are caused by a driver texting and driving.
Some suggestions for breaking the texting and driving habit include the following:
• Put your phone in the back seat, in a bag or in the glove box.
• If you have to send a text, pull over.
• Tell the person you've been texting that you'll be driving and can't respond; they CAN wait.
• Turn your phone on silent.