Roger Morris, a student at Bloomingon High School North, has started a campaign to discourage texting while driving. He has designed and distributed posters around the school, and is giving free bumper stickers that say “No text on board” to students who pledge not to text behind the wheel. Staff photo by David Snodgress
By the numbers
• People who text while driving are 23 times more likely to crash, according to the Indiana Department of Labor.
• Reaction time is about 30 percent worse if you’re trying to text and drive, and you’ll spend an average of 10 percent of your time out of your lane, the department has found.
• Ten percent of all drivers younger than 20 who were involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted at the time of the crash, according to DistractedDriving.gov.
• Text messaging on a cellphone is associated with the highest risk among all cellphone-related tasks by drivers, according to Pew Research.
Among the usual fliers about upcoming events hanging on the walls of Bloomington High School North last week, students saw posters about death and injury due to distracted driving. What’s causing the problem? Texting while behind the wheel.
Before doing some research on the dangers of texting and driving, North senior Roger Morris had no idea the problem was so serious. He was shocked by what he found out.
“It’s the number one cause of death for teens behind the wheel,” Morris said. “The sad thing is, this is so easy to prevent.”
As Morris learned more about the dangers of driving while distracted, he became more and more aware and noticed many drivers looking down at their cellphones and texting while on the road, even though it’s illegal to do so in Indiana.
He was spurred to action and felt it was important to spread the word to his classmates. So he talked with administrators and teachers at North and started a campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of texting while driving.
“To have a student step forward, that was very encouraging,” said Curt Simic, peer mediation teacher at North.
“It’s always more meaningful when it comes from students with passion.”
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