With the advent of the smartphone, life has become much easier for all of us. We can now make a phone call, text, access social media sites and other pertinent applications all from one device. While the advances in the cellphone industry are amazing, they have come with dire consequences. Texting while driving has now become the leading cause of death of teenagers in the United States, overtaking drunk driving.
Nearly every teenager looks forward to driving, it represents independence and freedom. While this new found freedom is great for the teenage driver, it represents fear and sleepless nights for parents. Today, not only does a parent have to worry about how their teenage son/daughter is driving but what they are doing while they are driving. In the past, the biggest fear of a parent was whether their child was …show more content…
“Composing a typical text message is roughly akin to closing one 's eyes for nearly five seconds, during which time a car going 55 mph covers more than the length of a football field” (Savitz 2012). Due to the technological advances of the smartphone, and the fact that 50% of all teenagers admit to texting while driving, deaths of teenagers from texting while driving has skyrocketed. The latest data shows that over 3,000 teenage drivers died and over 300,000 were injured last year, as a result of teenage texting while driving. “The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that it is to blame for 11 teen deaths each day” (Savitz 2012). These deaths and injuries now make teenage texting while driving the leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States. With laws making no difference on whether drivers text, the number of deaths attributed to teenage texting while driving will only rise in the coming