The Dangers of Texting and Driving

According to Bankrate.com, texting and driving kills an average of around 400 people a year in the United States. In 2021, 225 teens ranging from 15 to 19 years old were killed due to texting and driving across the U.S. 

Triton students need to be made aware of how dangerous it is to be on your phone while you drive.

 More and more teens are going to be exposed to new and advanced cars and technology, but with all of the safety features that cars come with now, the ongoing concern of texting and driving is still going to remain a problem. 

To do some investigating, two reporters from the Triton Voice took a trip to downtown Newburyport to observe how many cars drove by with the drivers on their phones. As a result, 28 out of 30 cars driving in downtown Newburyport were using their phones or had a phone in their hands.

This is a major problem for those who have had to deal with the aftermath of such unsafe behavior.

“I have attended far too many deaths and held the hands of those who were dying, [and] held the brains of those dying to try and keep their death comfortable until inevitable,” driving instructor and former police officer Dennis Moriarty told the Triton Voice. 

During an interview with Mr Moriarty, he explained that he was involved with law enforcement for 29 years, before continuing on to start his own driving school. 

“I witness far too many people texting while driving. [There’s] at least a third of drivers texting” said Moriarty.

After our interview, we decided to meet with some Triton students who drive to get their opinions on texting and driving. 

Interviews with the three students revealed inconsistent answers when it comes to texting and driving. 

Senior Sophie Chapman said texting and driving is “extremely unsafe. It causes people to take their eyes off the road.”

When asked about committing the act of texting and driving, senior Luke Sullivan and junior Devyn Atlanzas both revealed that they text and drive, even though they think it’s unsafe. During the interview, we brought up the so-called driving setting on iPhones, which disallows texting and some other notifications while driving. Both Sullivan and Atlanzas said they “didn’t know that was a thing,” with confused faces, and they are likely not alone.

For those who don’t know, the driving setting is similar to the “Do Not Disturb” setting that is more commonly used. The driver setting is just redirected towards driving time, which is activated when your phone observes you moving at a rate of speed similar to driving. When you have it on and try to open your phone while driving, the phone asks “Are you driving?” before allowing you to open a phone. The feature silences text messages and other notifications while you are driving. While its not completely safe, it lessens the likelihood of getting into an accident due to driving. 

To enable this feature, on an iPhone a user can go to “settings,” “focus,” then tap “driving” and follow the steps suggested from there.

Statistics and interviews prove that texting and driving are very dangerous. While statistics point to an increasing problem, it is those such as Moriarty who have seen the worst of the worst firsthand, that serve as the real warning. 

“The main reason why teens or young drivers need to adhere to the law more so than others, is lack of experience,” said Moriarty. “They haven’t experienced how fast things can turn south. They think bad things won’t happen to them until it does,”