By: Christina Cyrus

Distracted driving is any activity that distracts the driver’s attention from driving, which includes talking or texting on your phone, eating, drinking, or changing the radio station. These can all lead to unsafe driving.

Texting is the most common distraction. Sending texts makes you take your eyes off the road, and you cannot safely drive unless your vehicle has your full attention.

The consequences of texting and driving can be severely bad; it could lead to you killing someone which could then lead to 20 years in jail.

Everyone can be involved in a way to save life. Teens are the best way to get information out, because most of the time their lives involve texting or social media. Parents can also play a big role because they are the role models, and kids are going to do things that their parents do. They can also remind their kids to stay off their phones to help prevent anything bad happening/save their lives.

The law, in Minnesota, is that nobody under the age of 21 can be on their phones unless the phone has “hand free” mode. I think this is a good law because you shouldn’t be on your phone while driving, but you still have a phone there in case there is an emergency.

In my opinion, I think driving is a very good privilege and with driving it comes with you thinking and making the right choices; it comes with responsibility. This is why the law says you have to be 21, because it gives people more time to mature.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving