I am a cross country Charter bus driver, I have over 38 years doing this. I have seen a lot of close calls with nyself and other people out on the road. Right now i am being hasseled by a manager of a hotel in CA because I showed some of her front desk clerks the PSA video that shows the crash of some teenagers in that video. She stated to me that she was a pro, at texting while driving, i explained that it was stupid and against the law to text while driving in the state of CA. She has told me that she will no longer let me stay at the hotel she works.
I explained that the employee's wanted to see the video and that she is in the wrong and that i would be more than happy not to come back to this hotel, if she was driving near it or around the hotel while i was driving my bus here.

I can say that I am guilty of texting while driving. Back in the day I used to have a keypad on my phone where I could feel the numbers on my phone. Knowing what buttons I was using was easy, and I didn't feel like I put anyone in imminent danger because my eyes were on the road.

The first time I saw anything about the dangers of texting and driving was on Facebook right before my class with you started. It was the clip of the teenagers over in Europe. I found it very graphic and disturbing. I cannot text and drive anymore due to the type of phone I have. The blackberry storm is a touch pad, and the mistakes made while texting words is higher than my previous phone. The first time I tried to text I found my head looking down at the phone, instead of focusing on the road and my surroundings.

If I were to hit someone, hurt someone, kill someone and it was not my fault, I would still be devastated. It would still change my life forever. Nothing would be the same. Now if I did kill someone or injured them while I was driving and texting WAS a factor to why I wasn't paying attention...my life still would change forever, but I would lose out on a lot. I have two boys that still need their mother, and I sure can't do that while behind bars.

I advocate no texting while driving with my friends and family. Nothing is that important that you can't either pull over to the side of the road, OR wait till you are at your destination. One thing I know about life, no matter how good you think you or safe of a driver while driving and texting, you can't control your surroundings.

I think cell phones are a huge distraction, especially when someone chooses to text while driving.

Those who choose to partake in texting while driving are highly irresponsible and without a doubt ignorant of the threat they are facing and contributing to the general safety of other drivers.

Studies have shown that handheld devices such as cell phones triple the risk of a crash or a near crash experiences, because one has to look down at the device in order to perform the task of texting.

Putting someones life in dangerous is a very imperceptive decision especially when you have the alternative to avoid answering the phone or texting a friend.

In other words take any precaution for the sake of yourself as well as others because it is unnecessary to terminate ones well-being for a call that can be answered later or a Text that can be made later.

I agree that driving is a huge responsibility & each of us have a moral responsibility to perform the task as safely as possible. I also know that while many will agree with this idea, many will also find it very difficult to change their busy life habits and entirely ignore texting while on the road until it may be too late. In an effort to decrease potential hazards rather then promote irresponsibility I would like to offer a texting tip. My cell phone happens to have buttons that protrude just slightly above the outer rim making it possible for me to text with my thumb without frequently looking at my phone. It took a few months of text training to learn to do this & I text slower then the typical texter but I am confident that when I do text (rarely while driving) then I am more capable of caution then the average texter. Many of the newer phones have flat buttons or touch screens so while you may need to sacrifice getting the latest and greatest gadget, you can at least be a tad safer. Learning to text without looking also comes in handy during a boring conversation as you can still maintain eye contact while other conversations entertain!
Here's to safer driving and good conversation.

I have to admit I done a little texting while driving. And everytime I attempt it I will slowly drift towards another lane, and I stop. What an idiot! If someone really beleives they can carry on a text conversation while attempting to drive your crazy! The traffic congestion in this city has probably doubled in the last ten years, and road construction seems to be everywhere. I find it hard enough to talk on the phone while trying to pay attention to croweded roadways and drivers who can't seem to maintain a speed under 80 miles per hour. Driving a car involves a lot of responsibility, if I hurt anyone because I couldn't wait to send a quick message until I got home, I imagine I would feel no worse than if I had been drinking and killed someone. We take the responsibility as drinkers who drive to call a cab for a ride home rather than getting behind the wheel. Make the effort and wait to make that text, it can wait!

I have seen a lot of close calls with myself and other people out on the road. Right now i am being hasseled by a manager of a hotel in CA because I showed some of her front desk clerks the PSA video that shows the crash of some teenagers in that video. She stated to me that she was a pro, at texting while driving, i explained that it was stupid and against the law to text while driving in the state of CA.

You just gave me a great idea. Sure we must never text while driving. We can risk our lives and the lives of our passengers. I mist find some more statistics on this.