Texting while Driving

I actually wrote a speech on this a few months ago in speech class! Texting while driving is actually just as dangerous as drinking and driving. I personally don't text while driving because I don't drive, but I have been in the car with people who do and it does make me nervous sometimes. It's one thing to text at a red light, but a totally different story when you are actually driving. I feel like they can put their phone down for the few minutes they are on the road or even hand their phone off to one of the passengers in the car to text the message they want to send. Is there really a text that is that important that can't wait until you are safely off the road, I don't think so. I know that in some states it is illegal to text and drive or for that matter even talk on the phone and drive. When I wrote my speech some of the ideas I put for discouraging people from texting while driving was making harsher punishments, if it's just as dangerous as drinking and driving why not make the punishments just as harsh. Many teens text while they are driving and don't think about the consequences it can lead to, they could end up killing themselves or someone else. Imagine living with the guilt of accidently killing someone due to texting, that would be unbearable. Accidents can happen in a matter of seconds which is the amount of time it can take to read and send a text message. A life could change in a matter of seconds. I think that video gets the message across and I think if it was played in the US it would get the point across of how dangerous texting while driving is.