Eleven. According to distraction.gov that is the approximated number of teens who are in fatal car crashes due to texting while driving each day. Whether you are a teenager preparing to get your drivers license or you are a new driver, it is essential to know and understand the risk factors of distracted driving.  Many teens around the world believe that a quick text will only be a distraction for a few seconds. What they fail to realize is that those few seconds could end their lives. Studies performed by textinganddrivingsafety.com show that texting while driving increases the risk of getting into a car crash by 23 percent, and that teens are 4 times more likely than adults to be involved in these devastating crashes.

In addition to risking your own life, you are also putting the lives of other drivers and passengers at stake when you text and drive. The problem is not that teens, or even adults are unaware of the risks of texting while driving, it is that they simply do not care enough to change their actions. Edgar Snyder and Associates reported that in a recent AAA poll, 94 percent of teens consider texting and driving a serious risk, but 35 percent of these teens admitted to doing it anyway. This careless behavior and lack of consideration for one’s own life and the lives of others lead to tragic crashed each day. Every time you take that “quick glance” at your cellphone you are showing your lack of regard for human life.

So, the next time you hear your phone beep, think about the possible outcomes of replying to that message. Do you really want to be that person? The person who dies during an accident because texting your friend about the latest gossip at school couldn’t wait?  Or even worse, killing someone else because you were too selfish to wait the five extra minutes? 

Put down your phone. No message is worth the risk of injuring and possibly killing yourself and others around you. Those five seconds that you take to respond to a text message can determine the rest of your life. The choice is yours. This is your life; don’t let it end before you ever even give it a chance to start.