Texting and Driving Persuasion Essay

Almost every teen that you encounter has a cell phone nowadays. Among those with cellphones, almost 90% are texters. Of those who text, 30% send over one hundred texts per day. That adds up to be more texts per day than there are people on the planet. Wow! Of all the time spent driving, the chances are that someone will receive a text while driving. The law passed in the last few years has made sending a text while driving illegal.

Texting is a distraction for the driver. It affects the driver as much as the impairment of the effects of alcohol. It was recorded that there were at least 200,000 accidents due to drivers who were texting. This is the main reason that the law prohibiting texting was passed. Even if an accident does not occur, several drivers may be unfocused and breeze through an intersection when a light is red. In general, distractions impair driving and are being fixed to the best of the state's ability.

True, distractions are bad and need attention. Yet there are still so many distractions at hand such as: adjusting the air-conditioning, turning radio knobs, opening/closing windows, changing CDs, talking on a phone. Why has nothing been done about these nuisances? Are these not just as bad of hazards as that of texting while driving? A fix should be assigned to each of these issues also since if they are as bad as texting.

However, texting is a useful tool for communication. It is just as important as a phone call. Readers are right, if they think that texting and driving is dangerous, and I will even agree. If you are getting a text including instructions as how to get to a location or where to go, it is quite important to answer the text. Would a stoplight suffice as a location to text? Even if a text is not completed, the phone will not spaz out and get rid of everything you just typed at the light. I promise. It can wait until the next light or at least until you pull over.

When stopped at a stoplight it is technically not "driving", but rather stopping. A driver should be allowed to text while stopped. What possible hazard could texting at a stoplight cause? None, that's how many. Among the many other distractions that drivers put up with while driving, texting at a stoplight would be effortless and least dangerous.

I congratulate authorities on trying to stop texting accidents, but the laws can be a little overdone. A driver should be able to text while driving under certain conditions. Even though I agree that texting while driving is dangerous and rightfully illegal, it should be legal in certain conditions such as at a stoplight.