Created By: Esther Montano Brandi Lopez & Genesis Mejia

Texting and Driving Causes... 1)1,600,000 accidents per year. 2)11 teens die each year while texting and driving. 3)Nearly 25% of all cars have accidents. 4)It’s six times more dangerous than driving while intoxicated.     

Texting While Driving.... *About 6 times more likely to cause an accident than driving intoxicated *Makes you 23X more likely to crash *Is the same as driving blind for 5 seconds at a time *Takes place by 800,000 drivers at any given time across the country. *Slows your brake reaction speed by 18% * Leads to a 400% increase with eyes off the road.

Stories From People Like You Kena H “I lost my best friend, who was also my baby brother on Sept.11, 2010 due to distracted driving, so your message hits home hard for me. My brother, a single father of 2, was my next door neighbor every morning we would leave for work around the same time, now every morning I leave my driveway in tears knowing that a matter of a few seconds changed so many lives. When my brother won custody of his children he ask to build a home on my property next to me to “help” him with his soon to be teenage daughter. I was thrilled to have them so close, all my daughters would soon be off at college, so having him and the children there was great. Now their empty home is as much a curse as it was once a blessing. If only he would not have been distracted for the few short seconds. His fiancé was in the truck with him, when he seen they was going to flip she said he wrapped himself around her. She survived with minor cuts and scrapes, however her scars are emotional, she was pinned in the vehicle under my brother for a couple hours. That was just the type of person CJ was, although he was driving and took his eyes off the road for a matter of seconds CJ died saving someone he loved, to me he is a hero and that is what I tell his children.”

Keri B “The reason this is so important to me and for this area is that just a few weeks ago we lost a teacher from one of the high schools. She was heading from home to the school here in Dalton and she was texting on a straight area of the highway. At that moment an 18 wheeler was coming off the breakdown lane back onto the highway and she hit his flatbed trailer. She never knew what hit her never even hit her brakes. She was very well loved by her students. Her name was Demara R.”

“Texting and driving is in the news more and more these days. Accidents, state bans, new studies and statistics, more accidents...the list goes on and on. We are trying to make everyone stop texting while driving because it can cause a lot of damage.”

"Dr. Frank Ryan Killed In Car Accident" killed-in-car-accident/ Texting While Driving A Train Leads to $200 MM Settlement Teen Pleads Not Guilty To Texting In Fatal Crash eads_not_guilty_to_texting_in_fatal_crash/srvc=home $22MM Awarded In Texas Texting and Driving Accident Verdict Man Texting and Driving Arrested After Tulsa Wreck causes-tulsa- accidenthttp://drivingwhiletextingaccidents.com/2010/05/texting- while-driving-verdict-in-texas

In Conclusion.... We have to decide for ourselves if the advantages of text messaging and disadvantages are important while driving. We need to make a choice if we want to ignore all the negative effects it is having on us. Please don’t text and drive!

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