To: Professor Barbara KyleFrom: Ashley McNeillDate: 3-30-2015RE: The Dangers of Texting and Driving

Hello Professor Kyle,In recent years the issue of texting while driving has become increasingly problematic. In order to address this issue I believe that it is important to educate the group most at risk, in this case it is teenagers and their families. In order to do this I am going to write a proposal in which I will work with an already pre-existing school organization called the SADD club, which stands for students against drunk driving. While this organization focuses mainly against drunk driving, it has been making an effort to address all forms of distracted driving. The purpose of this proposal will be to provide information on how much of an issue texting while driving is. It is an already acknowledged issue, but just because people know of an issue does not necessarily mean that they understand it. In order to best provide this information I have decided that the most logical and direct way would be to go to the school. In this case I will be working with and organization known as the SADD club to begin educating students. Based off past experiences with school clubs, I am hoping that sometime in the future that the school system will begin introducing this issue into the required curriculum. Ideally it would be through classes such as freshman foundations, classes that all students are required to take, that this information is incorporated into. The reason that a proposal would be the most ideal method to make this happen is due to the fact that it informs my audience of my intentions before I even begin my presentations. This allows for my audience to have a pre-established opinion on this topic and this will give them time to come up with any questions they have specifically regarding this problem. I am hoping that by addressing this issue that my audience will begin to realize what they are doing when they text and drive; of the risk they are taking. They especially need to acknowledge this issue because of the area we live in. Orlando is a huge tourist area, mostly due to the fact we are located near an international airport. With the increase of traffic in the area more accidents are likely to happen, and most of these are due to distracted driving. While the group that I want to affect is teenagers, the audience I am going to address is going to be Maria Torrez Anderson. She is the head of the SADD organization and is the individual who is in charge of making the annual club by-laws. She is also in charge of the events that the club address. While each club has the freedom to institute their own projects, they are still responsible for fulfilling the required by-laws. Hopefully by speaking to her and presenting my issue and ideas for stopping this problem I will be able to convince her to add this to the clubs by- laws. Through this action I will be able to better address the greater part of central Florida. While having the SADD clubs support will help to ease the process, I know that there will still be some opposition. The primary opposition will be from individuals who fear the possibility that if they try to taking certain texting rights away from teenagers, that they may end up losing some of their own rights. According to Jim Solisch these individuals have a somewhat slippery slope mentality. This means that they fear something mundane may eventually lead to drastic changes. In this case it would be taking away texting rights, and then eventually lead to losing the right to listen to the radio while driving. While I myself lack credibility in this field, I have found several resources that will provide information on how to best avoid this issue. One of my sources is a scholarly journal by Kevin sherin and he recommends making any future laws restrictive to a single group. Make it so that the group that is impacted is the one that is most at risk. Some examples of laws that fit into this criteria that have already been implemented in other states include making it illegal for bus drivers and adolescents under the age of eighteen to text while driving. My other source is the National Highway and Traffic Safety enforcement agency. They are an excellent source for statistics regarding accidents, and they help provide evidence that the group most impacted by this issue is in fact teenagers. With this support I was able to submit a survey to several local high schools to get feedback directly from the source. The majority of students admit to having some form of exposure to this; whether they are committing the act themselves or have been in the presence of someone doing so. Hopefully, by providing legitimate evidence that this is an issue that is affecting our youth people will be more willing to take action to prevent any future issues. By going through the proper channels to address my issue I will be able to achieve my goal of making the road a safer place for everyone by educating those that are most at risk to contributing to the issue of texting while driving.

Works Cited

Anonymous. "Texting While Driving." Paper copy interview.

Sherin, Kevin. "Preventing Texting While Driving." American Journal of Preventative Medicine 47.5 (2014): 681-688. Web 1 march, 2015.

Sollisch, Jim. "Inconvenient Truths to a Ban on Texting While Driving." Csmonitor.com. The Christian Science Monitor, 17 May 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.