It's hard to ignore that ring tone you know so well or the familiar buzz of getting a text message. We are hooked to our cell phones as if they are external organs. When you hear that ring you recognize, you don't think. You just react. It doesn't matter what you're doing.
"Message Received," a short film written by Communication senior Karolyn Szot, shines a spotlight on a daily distraction: texting while driving.
For Szot, it's a personal message coming from losing a hometown friend in a car accident. For the average Northwestern student, sometimes we don't even stop to think about texting while driving.
It's ingrained in our instant-gratification instincts to absentmindedly take a hand or two off the wheel to reach for our phones, our iPods, our coffee cups or lip balm. But the statistics show that's a dangerous move. About 80 percent of car crashes happen because of distractions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That's not even counting near-misses.
Starting next year, Illinois will ban texting while driving. It's already illegal in Chicago. But it shouldn't be a $200 fine that stops you from punching the buttons on your phone. There are bigger consequences.
Szot's film reminds us of the British public service announcement that caught everyone's attention this summer. The Gwent Police Department's four-minute video graphically depicts a multi-car accident caused by a flirtatious text. The bloody scene results in several deaths - including one of a baby - confronting viewers with the hard-hitting truth: You don't want to wait until it happens to you.
We've already learned not to drink and drive, hearing the refrain repeated over and over even before we were close to taking our first sips. When will we learn not to text and drive?
Drivers' reaction times dropped by 35 percent when reading texts - worse than when they drove at the legal alcohol limit, according to a simulation course through the Transport Research Laboratory in the United Kingdom.
You hand over your keys when you're at the bar. When you're not having a beer, you offer to be the designated driver. This is the kind of responsibility you always need to have, whether it's alcohol or a text message that's calling to you.
Even if you aren't the one driving, it's still your job to keep your friend in check. Asking someone to wait to answer their phone may seem as trivial as telling them not to change the radio station. Still, you wouldn't climb into the passenger seat with a driver who's stumbling and drunkenly slurring words.
On the streets of Evanston, filled with students and families alike, texting while driving affects us even more. Think about it this way: You're running late for class and making the habitual quick dash across Sheridan Road. All it takes is five seconds for the driver coming toward you to look down at a BlackBerry and swerve into your path.
We make a lot of mistakes as college kids, but this is one we can avoid. We're always pressed for time and chatting in transit seems all too convenient. Even if you know your phone's keyboard by heart or can use T9 like a pro, answering a text later when you're safely parked shouldn't make that much of a difference.
The first step is creating a culture that doesn't condone texting while driving. We've all let a distraction take over our attention when we think there's nobody else on the road, but with the all risks involved, maybe it's time to put down the phone.
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