Driving skills take a turn for the worse when texting

Text and Drive, Bad Idea.Texting among teenagers is not just normal, it is expected. The number one gift to 16 year olds this Christmas was a cell phone. Texting is so important to teens that in a recent study, young people said if given a choice between being allowed to drive or giving up texting, the texting wins. When teens choose to do both at the same time, is when the trouble begins.

As you can imagine, young people's driving skills take a turn for the worse when texting. “While car companies are designing cars to help focus your attention on the road, we are looking at our cell phone keyboards while driving through residential streets.” Says the National Highway and Safety Administration in  a recent study. “Your driving is worst when you are texting, mostly because texting forces you to look down in addition to moving your fingers.”

Not just teenagers are affected. There has been a rash of accidents lately involving the elderly as well, as texting becomes more prominent with the entire population.

So we ask, PLEASE DON’T TEXT AND DRIVE.  Pull over, or wait. It may save your life, or the life of a pedestrian or animal.