A young man drives down the road enjoying a conversation with his friend through text messages. His phone sits in his lap as he navigates the windy roads near his home. The phone rings, and he looks down to pick it up. Before he looks up he swerves into opposing traffic and hits a truck. He does not survive. Would you want to be in the same position as this man? As the usage of cell phones increases, more and more people are experiencing similar incidents. Many people do not understand the dangers of texting while driving, and continually do it while putting others at risk. The government must create a law severely punishing drivers for sending or receiving text messages while operating a motor vehicle.

Texting while driving severely decreases awareness, and subsequently increases the risks associated with distracted driving. When a person texts while driving, he is in a very dangerous situation. According to a January 2010 New York Times report by Matt Richtel, “Texting while driving is at least as dangerous as driving with a .08 blood alcohol level.” That is a staggering statistic. The government has strict laws in place against drunk driving, so logically, it should do the same for texting while driving. In fact, texting while driving may pose a larger threat than drunk driving, as all people know the dangers of drunk driving. Many people are not aware of the dangers of texting while driving, so they do it while unaware of the consequences. Teens must control their texting habits, not let their habits control them. This disturbing practice is not only extremely dangerous but it is also increasing in popularity.

Texting while driving is becoming an increasing threat on the roads and people must stop doing it before it becomes uncontrollable. According to a December 2009 Boston Globe report by Hope Yen, “The number of text messages sent in 2008 was double those sent in 2007, and the number is much larger now.” Texting is clearly becoming a larger part of people’s lives. According to the same report, text messaging has become more popular than calls among teenagers, a group more disposed to practicing bad judgment. Texting is not dangerous in itself, but the more popular texting becomes, the more people will do it while driving. In fact, the research firm Toluna did a survey reporting one in four mobile phone users admitted to texting while driving. The threat texting drivers pose increases continually without showing signs of slowing down. This threat is the reason why we must implement strict laws discouraging people from texting while driving. No reason exists to justify texting while driving.

Texting is never urgent enough to risk endangering lives. Anyone who uses text messages can agree they are a casual form of communication, and people use them as a quick way to have a simple and usually unimportant conversation. People often initiate text conversations when they are bored and have nothing else to do. They are casual and oftentimes unnecessary. The person driving has more important things to pay attention to, and these casual conversations can always wait until after one is done driving. Even if someone has something important to talk about, it is not as important as his safety. If someone has an extremely important message to send or receive, he can pull over and do it. Clearly it is not an unreasonable request to ask people to stop texting while driving.

Some people may argue a law against texting while driving would be hard to enforce, but they are missing the point entirely. The point of a law would be to prevent people from texting while driving, not to catch everyone who texts while driving. If those caught texting while driving are punished severely they will be examples to the rest of the community. Not only will they abstain from texting while driving but their punishment will also convince others not to text while driving. This law will not end texting while driving, but it will undoubtedly decrease texting while driving. If a law will decrease the rate of texting while driving then no reason exists not to pass it because very few, if any, negative things can come out of it.

The government must put into place a severe law for people who text and drive. Texting distracts drivers from operating vehicles safely, and the threat of texting while driving increases every year. Texting is unnecessary while driving and is not worth risking lives. It is imperative that people stop texting and driving, warn others of its dangers, and make an effort in supporting legislation banning texting while driving. This practice has gone unchecked long enough. It is time to make a stand and ban texting while driving.