(Editor’s Note: These letters are ones submitted by students at Escalon High School as part of a class project. The Times will print a couple of submissions each week during November.)
Get Off The Phone
Dear Editor,
How hard is it to get off your phone while driving? One of the many state problems is texting while driving. Since many people in the society is used to having their phone in hand and be able to use it whenever, it has caused a problem in our society today. People are used to grabbing their phone to answer messages, phone calls or even changing the music on the Bluetooth. People are always grabbing their phone to answer phone calls and text messages that they never stop and think and ask themselves that they should wait until they get to their destination to answer the phone or messages. Texting while driving has become a problem that it should concern others because at least nine people are killed every day because of a distracted driver. More than 1,000 people are injured every day due to a districted driver. Twenty-six percent of all crashes in 2014 involved cell phone use. In 2015, 42 percent of teens say they have texted while driving and texting while driving is the leading cause of death in teens. Driving is privileged because of the inherent risk and responsibility we all need to assume on the road.
When you choose to text while driving, you’re threatening every single driver around you and placing more value on that message than yourself and your fellow drivers. To solve the problem of texting while driving is to put your phone away while driving, putting your phone on mute or turning your phone off entirely is a sure way to avoid being distracted by it while driving. Of all the solutions to texting while driving this one requires the premeditated effort. Another way to solve the problem of texting while driving is to form an agreement or pledge.
As you can see, texting while driving has very real consequences that will only get worse unless we work together to make these statistics a thing of the past.
Sincerely,
Daisy Avila
Upgrade For Safety
Dear Editor,
Many injuries come from bad soccer fields and poor conditions. Ever since soccer has been moved to winter, the teams have faced manty challenges through the weather. Due to the poor conditions the fields have been terrible. There are puddles and holes caused by players that use it after it rains, there is many mud and soft spots that when played on or stepped on cause holes. This is dangerous to the players because of how many injuries can be caused by this little hole. They can sprain their ankle and cause many other injuries to the legs. Switching to a turf field or if the schools take more care of the fields the injuries would be reduced a lot. A turf field would not be affected by the bad weather or winter. There is no mud in turf and no holes would be made. Other benefits would come from this. We would not have to cut the grass and the players would be happier playing on an even surface and not having to worry about getting injured from going to practice or playing a game.
Sincerely,
Emiliano Ramirez
