Ashia Winston (U of West Alabama): Don’t Text & Drive Scholarship

Texting and driving is so common in today’s society that it’s scary. Not only do people text and drive, but they “Facebook and drive,” Snapchat and drive,” and even tweet and drive. There is no text message in the world worth risking a life over. The people who are texting you should also understand this. I love that more cars being built today are coming with wireless Bluetooth capabilities, that way drivers won’t have to move a muscle off of the wheel.

When I first started driving texting and driving was something I was horrible at. Not only was I putting my life in danger but also other people who were traveling the same streets as me. I have recently taken a vow with myself not to text and drive because of an accident I had. I actually wasn’t even texting and driving. My car had Bluetooth, so I was in the process of going to my music app to change the song. Then all of a sudden my car went “bloop bloop” and my heart stopped. I saw two pairs of twinkling eyes staring back at me. It took me a moment for me to realize I had hit a deer. My poor car was not out of fix; I could still drive it but she just wasn’t as pretty anymore. All of this could have easily been prevented if I would have waited until I was at a stop light to change my tunes. This accident has made my not text and drive anymore. Even when I am in the car with my friends I’ll fuss at them about being on their phones and put out of arms reach so they can’t find it. Also, when my friends are in the car with me I allow them to hold my phone and be the “phone operator.”

To be completely honest, I do not have any messages in my phone from when I have been texting and driving. I even went through all of my text messages pondering on where I was when I sent them. No text message is worth risking your life, whoever maybe in the car with you, and other drivers on the streets. There may be some instances of me opening Snapchat messages from friends while I was waiting at the traffic light. Ever since that night I came face to face with those gleaming eyes I took a vow from then, never to pick up a phone while I was driving again. Texting and driving is very popular in the 18-24-year-old age group because we love taking risk. We also feel that we are invincible, so for example that an accident won’t happen to us. Things have to happen to this age group in order for them to believe it. Once, my accident happened to me I can proudly say I have never picked up a cellular device while driving since. But, this does not need to be the scenario per say because every accident may not be a finder binder as mine was.