“Crash!” Shattered windows, a mangled car, blood splattered everywhere, people crowd around the accident, and soon hear sirens from a distance.
Was that text message really worth your life or the life of others?
Almost everywhere you go, you can find someone texting on a cell phone, whether they’re a teenager or an adult. Although cell phones can be useful, they can also be the cause of severe injuries and even fatalities if they’re used at an inappropriate time.
Last year, student council began the No Texting While Driving Campaign to spread awareness about distracted driving, particularly in a community with a busy highway, a large university and many high schools.
Many might not realize how serious and risky it is to drive while distracted, and student council sponsor Cyndi Owens is hoping the campaign will make people think twice before texting while driving.
“We’re trying to get people to pledge to not text and drive and get them to stop and think before they text if this conversation is really possibly worth your life or the life of someone that you’re driving with or someone that’s on the road,” Owens said. “We really hope to eventually go community-wide with this, go to A&M and Blinn and talk to students there too.”
The No Texting While Driving Campaign began this week, and junior Hailey Smith says student council will be doing a number of things to advertise the campaign.
“We’ll be doing pledges, which says that you won’t won’t do distracted driving and to spread the word about it, we’re putting shirts for sale, showing videos, handing out fliers and putting things in the parking lot just to remind people [about the campaign]” Smith said.
Next semester, student council will be displaying different things related to texting and driving to grab everyone’s attention.
“Second semester we’re bringing a smashed up car to show that this is what could happen if you text while driving,” junior Tabitha Hernandez said. “We also put up a sign DTAD which stands for ‘Don’t Text And Drive’ so we put cups in the fence and they’re green so they draw your attention.”
Sophomore Caitlin O’Dell says student council hosts the campaign particularly before holidays because that’s when students tend to do more driving.
“During holidays students are driving to different places and we just want to bring awareness that if you text while driving then it’s unsafe so we’re just trying to emphasize it before a lot of travelling happens,” O’Dell said.
Overall, the main goal is to keep everyone safe.
“It’s really not safe,” Owens said. “It’s in everyone’s interest and we want to encourage others not to do it, especially when they’re in the car with someone else.”
