By KELLY BROWN
Editor's note: This essay was written before the recent efforts in Michigan to ban texting while driving. It has been edited for timeliness and length, but all the salient points remain.
A beep signals from your phone. You go to grab it and take a look and see your friend would like to know where you want to go tonight.
It only takes a minute for you to open your phone and respond to the text, but it also only takes a minute for your life to be over.
Hundreds of teenagers and adults across the nation reach for their phones and decide to text while driving. They are making the decision that at that moment a text message is more important than their lives.
The risks of texting while driving are rising, and your life is on the line. Texting while driving is a distraction and not only is your life on the line, but so is someone else's. The risks of taking your eyes from the road for a split second are dangerous. Due to the many dangers that tag along with a driver's license, insurance companies and car companies are trying to figure out ways to stop this problem. When the privilege of a license is placed into the hands of a teenager, so is the responsibility of life.
The definition of freedom is the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint. Every teenager experiences freedom when the gift of driver's license is place into his or her hands. Freedom is the feeling of being able to go where you please, not being held back, and being on your own for once.
With this freedom comes the responsibility of knowing that you are in charge of your life, and the decisions you make will decide the outcome of it.
Imagine, friends in the car, cell phone in hand and you take off on a trip. Think of the distractions in your car at that moment.
You have to keep your mind on the road but that cute boy or girl from class is texting you and you're so eager to text back. You quickly grab your phone and send a simple reply back. Thumbs punching away, you take your eyes off the road for a split second, look back up and a car is spinning out of control heading towards your car.
Now your friends and you are in the hospital with serious injuries.
Some 46 percent of drivers ages 16 to 17 admit to texting while driving. Not only is texting while driving dangerous, but it is also costly. You may have to pay to get your car fixed, towing fees, hospital fees, insurance and a fine for texting while driving.
On the other hand, I can why many teens think driving and texting is not unsafe. There is no real way to tell if a death is the result of a teen texting and driving because the phone is shattered during the crash.
Kelly Brown is a junior at Traverse City West Senior High School.
