The authorities have tried many things to put an end to texting and driving. They know that it causes serious accidents and costs the United States hundreds or even thousands of lives every year.
In fact, it’s sometimes been likened to drunk driving, which saw its own opposition movement with the rise of groups like Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. Some studies have even concluded that, though both practices are dangerous, and drivers should never engage in either one, drunk driving was actually safer than texting and driving.
So, how can the authorities end this practice? Sometimes, they just try to raise awareness to make sure that drivers know about the problem. Other times, they talk about the consequences; this is especially popular with young drivers, who will be shown pictures or videos of accidents caused by texting. In other cases, they’ll just discuss why it’s smarter to wait and why people need to break the compulsion to text back immediately.
But texting and driving continues to happen, despite these campaigns, changes to the laws and widely-cited statistics about traffic accidents. Drivers still choose to do it, and that shows us that there is only one person who can put an end to it: the driver. Each driver has to make that decision for themselves, knowing how dangerous texting is and deciding that they will no longer be part of the problem.
The unfortunate reality, though, is that many people have yet to take this step. If you get hit by one of these distracted drivers, you need to know what options you have.