It is a late November night and you are hungry. While driving on the road you debate where to get food. Ping! Your friend texted you. “Do you want to get Chipotle?” As soon as you turn your eyes back to the road a tree appears out of nowhere. You don’t have time to stop. BAM BAM BAM.

A distracted driver can turn to a dead or severely hurt driver very easily. Although, if you are reading this article then you are probably aware of this. I am sure that you have heard the horror stories and even watched that super sad skit about texting and driving in your drivers ed class. 

When you first get your license, you follow the rules closely. Always keep your phone in your bag or in the back seat or only have your friend use the GPS. I believe that when us young drivers get more comfortable with driving we start to reach for our phones more often. 

Whether it is trying to find the perfect song on your playlist or adding a stop to the nearest gas station or starbucks. As our confidence grows our carefulness shrinks. This is what leads to distracted drivers.

According to The National Highway Safety Administration, 10% of all fatal crashes and 15% of all injury accidents were caused by distracted drivers. To make matters worse,  9% of teens between the ages 15 and 19 were distracted while involved in these fatal crashes. This means that 3,900 people lost their lives to distracted driving and 391,000 people were injured due to it. These statistics are scary,but it is so important that we are informed about the possibilities of distracted driving. 

So next time before you start driving maybe plug the songs you want into your queue. Maybe even drop your phone in a pocket, turn it to silent or honestly just throw the thing in your back seat. Don’t become one of those stats.