I witnessed a result of a car accident on Saturday, Sept. 15, in Oakley, Kansas, when I was on my way back from my trip to Colorado.

While the cause of the crash was unknown, the effect could be the exact same with texting and driving. With that being said, no text is worth taking your life away.

In this accident,  a 44-year old woman was driving on I-70 with nobody else on the interstate with her. She had swerved into the left lane and overcorrected her mistake. She rolled over into the field and landed on the roof of the car while secured by her seatbelt. We stopped to make sure she was okay while others had already contacted the police. Sadly, she didn’t make it. Since her phone was just outside of her window, we suspected it was in her hand while the incident happened. It’s very likely she could have been texting and driving.

In 2016, over 300 people were killed in crashes involving distracted teen drivers. Having your phone near you can actually distract you while driving. There are 3,287 deaths every day from car crashes. Nine of those deaths involve distracted driving.

There are three types of distractions: Manual, visual and cognitive. Manual deals with you taking your hands off the wheel. Visual makes you take your eyes off the road when unnecessary. Lastly, cognitive is when your mind wanders off the fact that you’re driving and makes you lose focus. Texting involves all three of those.

Did you know fatal car crash rates for teens are three times higher than it is for anyone over the age of 20? This is because teens drive distracted. Teens can be distracted as easy as one notification pop-up, a text or a call. This is because their phone sits screen forward to them.  It takes nearly four to five seconds to read or send a text. If you’re going 55 mph, in that matter of seconds you’d travel a whole football field. In those four to five seconds, it can cost your life, not knowing what’s in front of you.

Distracted driving can be completely preventable. All you have to do is don’t put your phone in your vision while driving. Keep your hands, eyes and mind on the road. Buckle up, and drive safely.