I recently read a news article about an old texting and driving case from back in 2009, but barely settled the lawsuit around August 2012. A couple lost each of their left legs because a teenager who was texting while driving hit them on their motorcycle. “David Kubert, the driver of the motorcycle had his left leg torn off above the knee. His wife later had her left leg amputated (Press 1).” They had to settle for only $500,000, now from experience of working, school, and family, each of them losing a leg disables them to work certain jobs. It’s already hard enough for a middle class person to find a job, imagine what it is like for this couple to find one. After reading this article it made me think does this teenager feel guilty of what he did?
The couple was blessed to be alive together, but with limited circumstances. But not everyone survives texting while driving accidents like Tommy Clark, an innocent happy 15 year-old who lived in Vernal, Utah. He was walking along the side-walk with his friend around 9:00 P.M. on a Sunday, without even knowing it Tommy got struck from behind. “The impact threw the 15 year-old about 40 feet through the air (Liesik 1).” He was transferred to the hospital by helicopter, but was taken off life support Monday afternoon. Something like this is never easy to try to put together for a family— its tragic, and heartbreaking. Tommy was just a sidewalk pedestrian walking with a friend, while the driver who couldn’t even hold off on texting taking a life, an accident that could’ve been avoided and a boy alive.
This video is a 90 second documentary preview of people who was texting while driving and had caused injuries and deaths. There has been so many accidents caused by this problem our society has, and not many people are doing things to change their ways. Sometimes you have to be that person to cause something so horrible to even realize that it was wrong to text while driving or even any distracted driving. It only takes a few seconds to look away and to hit someone or something. Why take the risk of taking other people lives away, when a simple text can just wait. All of these stories makes me sad: makes me angry: but most of all makes me want to take action!
From sources below (“D!straction.gov” 1-20)
“According to a recent AT&T survey, 97% of teens know that texting while driving is dangerous; still, 75% say that the practice is still common among their friends. 89% claim to reply to a text message or email within five minutes, whether they’re driving or not. 77% of those teens also claim to have seen their parent texting while on the road (Price 1).”
This map shows what states have banned all drivers from texting, novice drivers banned from texting, and states with no texting ban. It doesn’t matter how long you have been driving for, this type of danger can happen at any age.
Sources:
Oct. 2012. <http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/21/two-injured-by-new-jersey-text-messaging-driver-settle-lawsuit/>.
Liesik, Geoff. “Vernal teen dies after being hit by texting driver, police say.” 03 2012: 1. Web. 16 Oct. 2012.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NHTSA.D!straction.gov. 2012. Web. <http://www.distraction.gov/download/campaign-materials/8747-811629-060712-v5-Opt1-Web-tag.pdf>.
AT&T, . Texting While Driving 90 sec Documentary Preview. 2010. video. http://www.youtube.comWeb. 16 Oct 2012. <http://youtu.be/mjc_0JBlRgE>.
Price, Emily. “AT&T’s ‘It Can Wait’ Campaign Attempts To Curb Texting While Driving.” 16 2012: 1. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. <http://mashable.com/2012/08/16/att-campaign-texting-driving/>.
Idaho: Idaho Brings Number of States Banning Texting While Driving to 37. 2012. Children Safety NetworkWeb. 31 Oct 2012. <http://www.childrenssafetynetwork.org/news/idaho-idaho-brings-number-states-banning-texting-while-driving-37>.
Texting and Driving 
October 24, 2012 at 3:33 am
This is so sad! Good job on your report and integrating your sources! The only thing I would say would be to explain what happens to those who text and drive. I know you can be put in jail for a number of days if you kill someone by texting and driving, so I think it would be interesting to do a comparison of worst case scenario to best case scenario… if that makes any sense… other than that good job!!
October 24, 2012 at 3:33 am
First off, I really like your theme at the top of the page. It fits your topic perfectly. I felt like there could have been more facts, I do like the graph at the bottom of the page. Are there any Utah laws against texting and driving? Are there any laws in any states?
October 24, 2012 at 3:33 am
I really liked your report. It was interesting and kept my attention. It also is emotional, so it will draw readers in that way. I would check your punctuation and grammer, and I would also add in a few more facts and statistics in your report, but overall great. I liked it.
Kristin
October 24, 2012 at 3:39 am
I like how you were able to relate your information to the present. It was great you had so many pictures to keep attention on the subject. I think you should keep track of how you are taking action. Other than that I think you did a really good job!