Texting and Driving has been a Big Problem

Texting and driving has been a big problem in this generation. We can’t seem to get off our phones while we are driving, which is very dangerous to the driver and the other drivers around us. But there have been many solutions, but so far, there hasn’t been many effective solutions. So, with that said, I have a solution which may be the solution to this problem. The solution involves an app on your phone, it’s a permanent app, which cannot be uninstalled, this app will diminish the amount of texting and driving drivers.

Texting and driving is a huge problem in the U.S. From Driver’s Alert’s website, it lists out a few statistics of Texting and driving, like, people who text while driving are 6 times more likely at risk to get into an accident over someone who’s drunk (Bennet 1). Imagine knowing you can be drunk and drive and still have a better chance not getting into an accident than texting and driving. Another statistic is, around 11 teenagers die every day, while texting and driving (Bennet 2). 11 is a huge number of deaths, it’s sad to know this statistic is a daily number, that’s nearly 4,000 car accidents yearly due to texting and driving. Another statistic is 64% of car accidents in the U.S. involve the use of cell phones (Bennet 3). From that percentage, you can see more than half of the U.S. get in to car accidents because they check their phones, 64% is a huge number, considering many car accidents involve alcohol-based influence. Nearly 520 pedestrians were killed by people who texted and drove in the whole year of 2014(Bennet 4). Over 500 deaths happened in 2014 because people think texting and driving isn’t such a big deal, nearly 500 human beings died in 2014 due to the lack of restrictions on texting and driving. There are many other scary facts about texting and driving, but they all just prove that this is becoming a norm to society, where we just check our phones while we drive. And we will never see change until someone steps up, and that someone is us, this generation of people who want to see the world be safer for us to live in. We must end the problem of texting and driving now, before more lives are taken by accident.

This app which on your phone can be easily connected to your car either via Bluetooth or a wired connection in the 12V socket port. Every car has a 12V socket port, so even if you don’t have Bluetooth connection you still have the port as your second option. I know many people won’t comply and they will either forget it, or just plainly won’t do it at all. Well in many states, it is illegal to text and drive, and if a police officer catches you, you will be fined heavily, In the state of Texas, if caught by a police officer for texting and driving, you will get a ticket, and the fine will be between $25 to $90, if you get caught for the second time, you will see a fine up to $200, and the fine for injuries to another driver because of texting and driving is up to $4,000, so why risk it? Cars can be programmed for you to connect your phone to your car, just like the seatbelt warning that goes off when you don’t wear a seatbelt. You will get a warning telling you to connect your phone. The app is signaled to automatically put your phone on do not disturb, and it is programmed to only answer important phone calls. Ex. Your Father and your Mother, if you don’t have a Parent, any legal guardian will do. Anyone else that isn’t your parents or legal guardian calls will be put to an end, and you will see those missed called and missed text messages when you are done driving or when you’re parked somewhere safe.

If your parents do call, they will also get a message before you answer saying, you are driving, so they would have to make the decision to either, waiting for you to answer, or they will have to end the call so they would know you won’t be risking your life to answer the phone. However, this plan won’t work if I don’t get the attention of the U.S. Government. So, I would have to contact an elected official in my area, once he sees and likes my idea, he will make a bill talking about my idea, and talk about how this could significantly lower texting and driving accidents. That bill goes to the committee, then Congress votes either for or against it, if the majority approves, it will be sent to the President of The United States, and he has the final say, he either vetoes it and it goes back to the Congress and where they will try to get the bill passed without The President, or the President approves and accepts the bill and which it will become a Law. When it becomes finalized and becomes a law, it will be enforced in many states, forcing everyone to obey the law, over time, we will become used to this new change, and the percentage of accidents by texting and driving will slowly decrease over time, and hopefully it will decrease to the point where texting and driving doesn’t have a percentage anymore.

The are many solutions to fixing the problem of texting and driving, however many solutions don’t get enforced, and get no recognition from the whole country of the United States, and they end up being thrown away and discarded. One solution that was created to stop texting and driving is turning your phone off when you get in the car (TextNinja 1). This is a good solution, many still do this as of now because they’re afraid of getting caught by a police officer and getting a ticket which can lead to a giant fine, this solution can be helpful to many people because it makes them concentrate even more on the road, less distractions the better, but unfortunately, no teen or even an adult would ever turn their phone off while driving, we’re just naturally attracted to our phones, so we will always get on it, which is raising your chances you get in an accident. That is the problem, no one listens to the rules that was placed on them, other than the rule biding citizens who know better, we rather try to get away with being on our phones while driving, than putting it down.

Therefore, I believe my solution is better, because mine is forced on, it’s not a where you pick and choose to accept it or not, it’s legally enforced for you to do it, and if you don’t want to, you will look at a hefty fine. We shouldn’t risk the lives of human beings over you picking whether to put the phone down or not, we need to force it on people. Everyone should realize texting and driving is no joke, we’re putting peoples lives at risk. Just like the rule on everyone should wear a seatbelt, my solution is everyone should put down their phones, my app is programmed to only answer important calls and not receive any other calls or texts from anyone who’s not important as your parents or legal guardian. This idea of forcing it on people does sound a bit a dictator like, yes it does, but at times like these, to protect lives are by forcing stuff on people, even if its uncomfortable, we have to accept it and take it into our lives for the wellbeing of others.

In conclusion, I believe with all the problems we have with texting and driving, it’s time for us to make a change, instead of doing something like turning our phone off while driving, which many won’t do, it’s time we force people to do this for everyone’s safety. The app would be free, and it won’t be that hard for us to use, all you have do is connect your phone’s Bluetooth to your car or connect it with a wire to the 12V socket port, once its working, it will decline any text or random calls other than your parents or a legal guardians. Its better to be safe than sorry, once we’re able to make this bill a law, it will be enforced everywhere in the U.S, and we will see less accidents from texting and driving. And if it is a really good success we can spread this to worldwide and see less texting and driving in the future in many different countries.

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