Video: Teens and texting behind the wheel

At Parker High School’s driver’s ed class,  Coach Cedric Blair tackles every topic on driving safely.

And that includes a topic that affects a lot of teens: texting and driving.

“It’s the most dangerous thing to do today,” Blair said.

And he’s right. According to AAA/17 magazine survey, texting behind the wheel is just one of a number risky teen driving habits.

The survey shows 61 percent of teens admit to risky driving habits.

Of that 61 percent, 46 percent say they text while driving.

“So many teenagers are losing their lives anyway, because of that,“ Blair said.

We pulled four teens from that driver’s ed class to talk about texting and driving.

Some have licenses, others don’t—but every single one has a cell phone and every single one texts on a regular basis.

“I have text messages coming through my phone every day… Like 24 hours,“ one student said.

Question is, do they, or will they answer those texts or send one while behind the wheel?

“I never text and drive, because my parent is in the car with me and she wouldn’t let me do it,“ a student said.

“Even though they invented the bluetooth, where you have earpieces for your phone… I still think it’s not safe to text and drive or talk and drive,“ a student said.

“It’s distracting, because anything could happen. You could have an accident.. .you know pedestrians could be walking across the street.. Anything could happen, you could hit them or cause someone to be harmed,“ a student said.

SADD, Students Against Destructive Decisions, surveyed 900 teens with driver’s licenses from 26 high schools and found teens consider certain behaviors extremely or very distracting - cell phone use is among them.

In fact, texting or sending instant messages tops the list at 37 percent.

Lt. Moody Duff with the Birmingham Police Department said it’s not just teens, and it’s not just texting that’s a problem.

It’s anything that districts drivers from being focused on the road.

“Even though there are no laws currently in the state of Alabama against talking, e-mailing, texting, or tweeting… if you’re driving recklessly, you’re crossing the yellow line or you’re swerving into other lanes or doing anything that can be considered reckless.. You can be sited for reckless driving,“ Duff said.

We did some checking and found that 18 states and Washington, D.C. now ban text messaging for all drivers. Nine states prohibit text messaging by novice drivers.
 
And here’s something to keep in mind.

Lt. Duff told me, if you’re traveling 70 miles per hour on the interstate your car will travel 102 feet every second.

“A lot of bad things could happen in 102 feet,“ Duff said.

And back at Parker High, these students know that well. Though they don’t text and drive, some of their friends do.

“I was in the car with my friend and she was texting and driving and she was going so fast and we were on the freeway and the car could’ve stopped at any point or moment and she would never have known and she could’ve rammed into the back of a car, “ a student said.

And all of us agree that none of us wants that.

It’s one message we could all stand to be reminded of.