By Luz Mosquera

Miami is known for its traffic-jammed lanes, from the streets to the Palmetto expressway. Every day, workers and students are faced with long lines of cars moving an inch forward every minute. This leads to many losing their patience and turning to their phones out of boredom

Distracted driving is now a leading cause of car accidents, more so than drunk driving— a study was conducted where young drivers using their phones and intoxicated drivers were put to a test to determine the reaction time in case of an emergency.

According to the Transport Research Laboratory, “Overall, the study highlighted that when texting whilst driving, a driver may present a greater accident risk than when at the legal limit for alcohol consumption.”

Drivers are more likely to send and read text messages while driving now that technology is so readily available. Most people assume texting is harmless, that looking at a cellphone for a quick second does not bring harm, however, texting while driving takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an approximately 4.6 seconds and increases the chances of a crash by 23 percent.

Several experiments have been conducted to document the outcomes of texting while driving. Although many are aware of the fact that texting and driving is illegal and can have fatal consequences, they still use their cellphones while driving.

This may be due to the fact that in five states, Florida being one of them, texting and driving is not a primary offence. Florida has banned the use of cellphones on the road but that law is hardly enforced.

Social media has made a huge impact in car accidents. Young drivers often check their phones while driving, looking at messages and taking pictures and videos with apps like Snapchat.

Commercials and campaigns against texting while driving have been posted on social medias, going viral in many cases and hopefully opening the eyes of young drivers who use their cellphones while on the road. However, it remains a problem, especially in a city like Miami where the chances of getting in an accident are already high.