Iola High School senior Abigail Taylor brought the dangers of texting while driving to life in an impassioned essay, “It Can Wait.”
Taylor’s essay won first place in her age division in the essay contest sponsored by the Kansas Press Association and AT&T.
More than 600 submissions statewide were entered.
Taylor, daughter of Iolans Ben and Jen Taylor, was awarded $500. She also will be recognized at the KPA annual convention April 22 in Overland Park.
Her essay follows:
‘It can wait’ by Abigail Taylor
As teenagers, we are predisposed to think we are invincible. Our inexperience and naiveté shield us from realities and consequences. The universal mantra, “That will never happen to me,” runs through each of our premature brains.
Never say never, because this could happen to you.
According to studies, each text you send while driving causes you to take your eyes off of the road for 4.6 seconds. If you are driving at 55 miles per hour you will travel the entire length of a football field in 4.6 seconds. Think about it. A full football field’s length of road and you don’t even look up once.
Take a minute and look at some of the texts you have sent in the last hour, especially short, negligible ones like “sup,” “k,” or “lol.” Let’s say you sent one of those texts while driving. It’s a short message, just replying “yes lol” to a friend. Only six characters. What’s the harm in that? Your eyes leave the road for a measly 4.6 seconds. Your car starts to drift over the center yellow line, but your eyes are still glued to your phone screen. You hit the send button. You glance back up. And your blood goes cold. A scream that you’ll never have a chance to utter gets stuck in your throat as you try to swerve. But it’s too late. The course of your life just changed in 4.6 seconds.
This could happen to you.
By the time the ambulances arrive at the scene of the head-on collision, the young mom in the other car is dead. Her children are trapped in the back of the car, still strapped into their car seats, sobbing and coughing on the smoke leaking from the engine. You are slumped behind the wheel of your car, unconscious, blood dripping from the gash on your head.
This could happen to you.
