By Rose Nava, Staff writer
Eleven teens die every year due to texting and driving according to icebike.org. According to AT&T’s Teen Driver Survey, 97 percent of teens agree that texting while driv- ing is dangerous, yet 43 percent do it anyway.
“Yes, I have texted and drove be- fore,” said Melissa Valdez, an Indian Trail High School senior.
“I do text and drive, but I’m trying to stop,” said Izaiah Lambert, another Indian Trail senior.
The average highway speed in the United States is about 55 mph. Taking ve seconds to read a text in this time means that the driver travels the length of a football eld without looking at the road and being distracted. Due to the increased num- ber of vehicles on the road, there is a higher chance of an accident to occur.
“I think texting and driving is a bad habit and could kill someone or yourself,” said Lambert.
Why is texting and driving a big problem, especially for teens? Well, 78 percent of American teenagers own a cell phone and use it regularly to call and text message, according to the Pew Research Center. Also, 9 in 10 teens expect a reply to a text or email within ve minutes or less. Fast replies are common amongst teens. This can increase the chance of replying to a text or answering a call even while driving.
“Young people should avoid it,” said Lauren Rexford, an Indian Trail senior.
Teens who text while driving spend 10 percent of the time outside their lane.
“Anything can happen on the road in the matter of seconds,” said Val- dez.
Texting and driving can also af- fect other people who are in the car. According to the AT&T Teen Driver Survey Executive Summary, 40 per- cent of teens say that they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone.
“My parents and friends text and drive all the time and when they stare at their phone too long I start to feel nervous,” said Lambert.
Many young people see older peo- ple text and use that as an excuse to do it as well. Forty-eight percent of kids in their younger teenage years have been in a car while the driver was texting. More than 1,600 chil- dren in the same age group are killed each year because of crashes involv- ing texters.
“I feel very vulnerable when someone is texting and driving while I’m in the car. I feel as if my life is in the hands of a careless person,” said Valdez.
The Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles says that cell phone usage while driving is against Wis- consin law for any driver with a pro- bationary license or instructional per- mit, except to report an emergency. This usually refers to young drivers or new drivers. This means no calling or talking on the phone while driv- ing. However, texting while driving is against the law for all drivers in the state of Wisconsin.