Persuasive Speech: The Dangers Of Texting And Driving

I. What would you do if you were sitting at your child’s basketball game and received a phone call from your frantic nephew telling you he and your sister were in an accident and your sister was unresponsive?
II. In 2006, my mother received a phone call from my cousin Landon. He told her that they had been in an accident while leaving their apartment and Becky, my aunt, was unresponsive. My mother ran out of the gym and drove to the scene of the accident. When she arrived my cousin was sitting in the back of an ambulance with a few cuts and bruises. My aunt on the other hand was still trapped in the car. As they were pulling out of the apartment complex my aunt was t-boned on her side of the vehicle. The paramedics had to cut her out of her car. After several hours she was finally out of the car, but

Texting and driving has become a huge issue in today’s society. Many teens, as well as adults, have formed a habit of using their cell phone while driving. It is distracting and the probabilities of getting into an accident are higher than if you are not using your cell phone.
V. We will look at the dangers of texting and driving, what local governments are doing to ban texting while driving, and what you can do to stop distracted driving.
Body:
I. Dangers
a. According to the Federal Communications Commission’s website “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in 2014, 18% of injury crashes, and 16% of all police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes were reported as distracted driving.”
i. In 2014, there were 3,179 people killed and an estimated additional 431,000 people wounded in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers. ii. At any given daylight moment across America, approximately 660,000 drivers are using a cell phone or manipulating electronic devices while driving.
b. According to Emma Gormley’s article in the Indiana Law Journal Supplement cell phone use while driving accounts for an estimated 1.5 million crashes each