by Stefani Johannsen
Editor, The Flyer Flash
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We hear it all the time: “Don’t text and drive.” We know about it yet some of us still do it.
In 2009, 5474 people were in fatal car accidents due to distracted driving and an additional 448,000 were injured.
Cell phone usage only made up 995 fatalities (18% of all distracted driving related crashes). So what made up the other 4479?
Cell phones, drinking and drug use are all distractions we’ve known about for years. But did you also know that loud music, young passangers, driving while fatugied, and speeding can distract just as much? Just dialing a number on your cellphone can quadruple your chances of getting in a crash.
Have your friends ever driven with their knees? Maybe you thought that it was pretty cool and decided to try it out yourself. Ninety-one teens have died while doing that. You don’t have enough control and if something were to happen, you wouldn’t have time to react.
In Irving, Texas, 1,124 students were observed while leaving school. 293 students were talking on their phones, 247 were turning on the radio or had radio volumn that was too loud, 232 passengers distracted their driver, 147 teens were texting, 95 were eating or drinking, 91 had other distractions (driving with their knees or not paying attention), and the last 19 were putting on makeup.
We all love our technology. It’s a great tool to use at the appropriate times. Distractions can also be caused by reading a map, or using a GPS, and even surfing the internet. These wonderful tools have resulted in not so wonderful outcomes sometimes.
Next time you’re tempted to do something that you know or think could be dangerous while you drive, don’t. You are holding a lot of lives in your hands and I’m not talking about just your passengers. Think about all the other people on the road who are actually playing it safe.
Speak up when you see something going on in a car that you know is unsafe. We don’t want to come to school one day knowing that one of our friends died and we could have done something about it. Don’t Drive Stupid.
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