“1 out of 4 car accidents in the US are caused by texting while driving.” [1] Today, all Americans know that texting while driving is dangerous. In fact, it is the leading cause of death amongst teenagers, surpassing drinking and driving. However, there are minimal changes to protect these lives. As of right now, the $20-400 fines serve only to downgrade the reality of the cause. One of the only ways to stop texting and driving is by making the punishment more severe.
In the state of Texas, the DWI charge is as follows: “after your first DWI offense, you may be fined up to $2,000 and spend between three to 180 days in jail. Additionally, your license may be suspended for up to two years.” [2] To prevent texting while driving, the punishments need to be similar to a DWI charge. Although the seriousness of the two issues vary in terms of emotional awareness (with drinking and driving being considered more severe), the final verdict concerns with saving human lives, which then does
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Albeit highly effective, the only flaw of these courses is that many individuals tend to quickly forget its message. To fix this problem, the courses need to be extended from the short six hours to 18 or 24 hours. As an addendum to the DWI charges, the state needs to make it mandatory for the offender to complete an 18-hour “No Texting While Driving” course. Along with amending the offender with effective information, the course will serve as a form of punishment – depriving individuals of valuable time, so they never text while driving. If the offender commits the act several times, then the hours will increase accordingly until there is a cap of 48 hours. With sufficient marketing and enforcement of this regulation, teenagers will loathe the idea of even picking up their phone while inside their