NextGeneration Will Explain Dangers of Texting and Driving

— from Paris Wilson, NextGeneration Public Relations —

Texting and driving is one of the most dangerous things you can do. It puts you and other drivers on the road at risk to accidents, injuries, and death. Texting while driving is something that is easy to do once, and after that, it can be hard to stop.

To try to prevent texting and driving, Orcas Island High School club NextGeneration is dedicating their time and effort to put together presentations for each of the high school classes in Orcas Island High School. The club strongly believes that spreading awareness about texting and driving is imperative.

NextGeneration members will visit each high school class in their school to present the problem of texting and driving, offer support, and discuss the topic with students. The presentations will include showing a video made by Point Blank in 2011 titled “Orcas Island Point Blank Driving While Intexticated,” discussing ways to speak to an older friend who is driving and texting while you’re in the car, exploring techniques to avoid texting and driving, and answering and talking through questions in each class.

For every six seconds of drive time, drivers who send or receive a text message spend 4.6 of those seconds with their eyes off the road.

The presentations include statistics about texting and driving. Vehicular homicide, which can be caused by texting and driving, can put you in jail for the rest of your life. For every six seconds of drive time, drivers who send or receive a text message spend 4.6 of those seconds with their eyes off the road. At a speed of 55 miles per hour, that is equivalent to driving the entire length of a football field completely blind. When a driver texts while driving, their reaction time decreases by 35 percent. One third of drivers under the age of 24 are texting while driving.

NextGeneration is a high school leadership group advocating for positive change on issues of concern. The curriculum offers leadership development in critical thinking, problem solving, communication skills, and event planning. The goal of the group is to inform, support, and empower students to make positive decisions in their future.

Texting and driving is something that can be prevented, and NextGeneration is ready to put a stop to it.