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As a mom of many little ones, I sometimes feel like my life revolves around crayons, lunchboxes, and Yo Gabba Gabba. The past few years have been a whirlwind for us, as we’ve watched our two young sets of twins grow from babies and toddlers to big kids on bikes. For years, it’s been all about the little ones, and I haven’t really thought much about teenagers. Even my own teenager seemed young to me, coloring with her sisters and brother. Then we moved across town, almost directly across the street from one of the largest high schools in Colorado, and now I see teenagers all day long – walking past my house, hanging out in the park, tearing through the streets in my neighborhood, desperate to pack as much fun and freedom as possible into a 25-minute lunch break. And it seems like every one of them has a cell phone in their hand at all times. Last summer, my daughter had a bunch of girlfriends spend the night, and they spent the entire evening sitting on the sofa together, not talking to one another, but texting other people – and sometimes even texting each other, while sitting in the same room!
Now that my daughter is at the age where she’s eager to take driver’s ed and get her learner’s permit, I find myself noticing more than ever just how many people are texting while they drive. Not just teenagers, either – I see grown men and women swerving all over the road, completely focused on their phones. And this is in spite of a fairly recent Colorado law which makes it illegal to text while driving – and, which actually bans drivers under age 18 from even using a cell phone while behind the wheel.
It seems sort of ridiculous that we need laws in place to tell us that texting while driving is a bad idea. This should be common sense, right? A recent survey showed that most people believe texting and driving is as dangerous as driving drunk…so why do people still do it? That same survey found that nearly a quarter of the respondents admitted to reading email or texting while driving. Last year, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that drivers who text are 23.2 times more likely to be involved in a collision.
How can we wake people up to the dangers of texting and driving? Do we need stricter laws? Let us know in the comments – each comment benefits DoSomething.org with a $0.50 donation.
LaLaGirl is the mother of a teenager and two young sets of twins. She's happily married, loves living in Colorado, and writes almost daily about married life, raising multiples, and parenting a child with autism.
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[...] Well – you can read my post! It’s on the BlogHer site, but it’s also available right here. Check it out and leave me a comment – your thoughts about texting and driving, or teenagers [...]
I’m more concerned about texting and driving that I was talking on their phones and driving. The hands free laws are making progress but not with the text issue! I think that the penalty for both texting and using the phone without a hands free device should be an automatic suspended license ….start at 30 days and just increase the time per incident. Make every offender take a drivers course and let them pay for it. The combination of the hit to the wallet, their free time and alternate transportation for the suspended period might make the offenders think twice.
Are the laws in your area being enforced? There are laws here, but I haven’t heard of anyone actually being held accountable for not following the laws. I think more needs to be done in schools to help reach the young drivers, like with the drunk driving awareness assemblies we had when I was in high school.
I have a friend whose daughter lost her best friend, who was pregnant at the time of her passing, because of texting while driving. So tragic. More people need to know how deadly it truly is to text and drive.
Delaware is passing a law on January 2, 2011 restricting the use of “handheld devices” while driving. I have no doubt I will still be able to look at the car next to me and see someone texting. People don’t take these laws seriously and I wonder how it will be enforced.
We do need stricter laws! Maryland just passed the hands-free law, however it is still a secondary offense. DC fines drivers $200 if you are caught with your cell phone in your hand while driving! I think that is the way to go. I also like those bumper sitckers that remind the person behind you to “Shut up and Drive”.
We have texting while driving laws in NJ. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s doing much to stop people….young AND old! I see people doing it all the time! Oprah has a campaign aimed at teens texting and driving. Marna and her friends signed “Oprah contracts”. I hope she and her friends keep to it…..but I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t. I’m always preaching to my kids about it….I hope it sinks in!
The comparison of the dangers of texting and driving and drunk driving and the high number of drivers who still text and drive doesn’t surprise me. In my adult life I’ve talked to SO many people who are so casual about drinking and driving. None of them believe it will happen to them. I had a friend who would yell at strangers who didn’t put their children in car seats, but thought nothing of driving drunk. It’s an interesting world we live in….
Texting and driving is such a stupid, stupid thing to do! And most teens are known by the stupid things they do! I have no more teens in my world, but I still remind my kids that texting and driving is just not necessary.
Nobody should be driving unless they are really ready to handle the responsibility of driving. That includes knowing how to focus on the task of driving. A distracted driver can be someone who’s eating while driving, listening to music, or having a discussion with passengers in the car, as well as having sex while driving not just using the phone or texting.
I see more adults distracted than teens.
I think it’s sad that there are not enough people with common sense to figure out how dangerous it is to engage in this kind of activity while driving! Or maybe they just believe it wont happen to them? The phones these days allow so much on them email, facebook, twitter and texting that I’m sure it is very addicting for people to check these while they are driving. Unfortunately, I haven’t been seeing a lot of enforcement in the laws regarding this issue either.
You’ve hit on a pet peeve of mine…people constantly on their phones while driving. Seriously, how did people survive before cell phones? We did it! You know, things can wait a few minutes, we don’t need immediate responses…put the phones down. Turn it off even…breathe, remember what it was like to not be constantly connected. In NJ they have a law, but you never seem to see it being enforced….
I don’t see it getting better until it gets worse. Sad to say, but I think until there’s some major wake up call, people will believe “I can handle it, I can do both things at the same time”…..just like many people believe with drinking and driving…until it gets ugly.
I mostly agree with ShazamMan above – it’s not just texting and driving that is a problem with drivers, young or old.
I’ve seen a few posts like this elsewhere & it’s always filled with comments like most of the above, “People are so dumb! They should be jailed for doing it!”, etc. If the statistics are true, 1/2 of the people on the road have engaged in this type of activity, yet you never see anyone owning up to it. (At least, I don’t.) Who can blame them when the majority of the things you see are so condemning.
But I’m here to claim my seat. I’ve been guilty of engaging in a whole host of behaviors that distract from the task at hand: driving. I like to think I’m careful while doing so – waiting for red lights, etc., but I know the majority opinion is: that’s not possible. I’m not going to try to convince anyone of anything, just wanted to be a voice for those who aren’t pristine and always obeying every traffic law.
Business people need to ‘hit the ball over the net’. Teens consider it rude not to reply immediately to texts. Home schedules would grind to a halt without immediate communication. We are conditioned to pursue this level of efficiency but we are all supposed cease this behavior once we sit in our respective 5,000 pound pieces of steel and glass. Anyone can win an argument in a forum like this by saying “Just put the phone away” – but we can see its just not happening.
I just read that 72% of teens text daily – many text more 3000 times a month. New college students no longer have email addresses! They use texting and Facebook – even with their professors. This text and drive issue is in its infancy and its not going away.
I decided to do something about it after my three year old daughter was nearly run down right in front of me by a texting driver. Instead of a shackle that locks down phones and alienates the user (especially teens) I built a tool called OTTER that is a simple app for smartphones. I think if we can empower the individual then change will come to our highways now and not just our laws.
Erik Wood, owner
OTTER LLC
OTTER app
I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone being pulled over for texting. I know of a couple of people who were pulled over because they were talking on the phone though. I agree with what Amy was saying. I’m do it occasionally. If my son is in the car with me, he gets on my case about it. He’s one of the few teens around that does not have a cell phone. I’ve been trying my best to follow the law and do what is required of me, not what I need to do at this very second.
It is sad, though, to see teens together and they’re not saying much at all. Even though chatter was sometimes a pain, at least you knew they were there. You could “hear” they were having a good time. Now, I feel like I’m in a library at times. I do miss the old days when we didn’t have all of these modern conveniences to make things better and more efficient.
I don’t think more laws are going to deter people from doing it. Look at drunk driving. Not only is it illegal, but “smart” people who “know better” still do it! Even knowing what could happen, people still do it.
I believe that texting is a similar story. People know and can verbalize the dangers. They know if it is banned, or they could be fined. They know they increase their risk of an accident. Yet, they still do it.
If someone could understand the psychology of either issue, they would be one rich, sought after person! Unfortunately, I just don’t think people under stand the psychology enough to know how to influence a change. Which really is so sad. It’s not rocket science. People just think “it won’t happen to them.”
Georgia also just passed a “no texting while driving” law, and for now, it does seem like I’m seeing less of it while I’m driving.
While driving, I used to talk on the cell constantly (not hands free, either) and text fairly often. A year ago I was in CA for a few weeks, and it was illegal there to talk on the cell without a hands-free kit. Being in that environment really broke me of those behaviors, and to be honest, really kind of illustrated for me how much of my attention I was spending on it! Now I never ever text while driving, and rarely talk. I try to do all my talking as I’m getting ready to get in the car, instead of while I’m on my way places.
How to wake people up to the dangers of it? I really don’t know. People *know* that drunk driving is dangerous, yet WAY too many still do it. I don’t think people realize how impaired they are while using their cell phone. (Did you ever see the episode of Mythbusters where they tested which was more “dangerous”…driving drunk or while talking on the cell phone? It was FASCINATING, and they were shocked by how how close the two really are.) Sadly, I’m afraid it will take people being affected by accidents caused by texting/talking while driving to really “get it.”
This is what my friend told me about the new hands-free law in Oregon: “What a stupid idea, now I have to talk or text, drive, AND look for cops. I used to do two things, now I gotta do three. Before it was much easier! ” Ay yi yi
I’m guilty. Usually only at red lights though. I’m always telling my teens not to do it!