If You Text and Drive in NJ

The roadways are all of ours to share - don't be that person who selfishly puts everyone in danger.

Dear Texter and Driver -

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you're not aware of the severity of your actions. But one seemingly mundane task could change lives for the worst.

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I can't tell you how many times I've cruised down the parkway and seen people looking up and down as they finish that oh so important message or I've been stuck behind someone on Route 37 who takes a few extra seconds to resume driving at a green light because they have to get a response sent. It's selfish, it's annoying, it's irresponsible, and it's dangerous.

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To state the obvious and the least important part of all of this, you're holding everyone on the roads up by slowing traffic down to finish a text or remaining stopped at a green light. Most importantly, you're putting others' lives at risk when you take your eyes off the roads to get that message sent. It only takes a split second for a person in front of you to hit their brakes - and if you're not looking up to see it, the results can be disastrous.

It's also extremely selfish to text and drive during a time where so much technology exists to prevent us from doing so. Most newer cars have the capability to connect your phone to the dashboard and speaker system so that you can speak messages without having to look away from the roads. I know iPhones have the capability to set "do not disturb" times on your phone, with preset responses that will let contacts know you're driving and can't respond.

And MOST OBVIOUSLY, you could always PULL OVER and respond if something is that important, sheesh!

Texter and driver, I hope you've read this letter with a new outlook on just how dangerous this seemingly small action is. Please take driving more seriously, because your actions can affect everyone else.

Sincerely,

Diana Tyler

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli