Texting your BFF about something that made you go OMG or LOL while you are behind the wheel could end in someone being DEAD.
That's the message Miami and other area teens are seeing at the movies, courtesy of the Dori Slosberg Foundation which has produced several short commercials about the dangers of texting and driving.
The movie-mercials are a prelude to teen safe driving week, which runs from April 20 to April 25.
"Right now, statistics show that 87 percent of all traffic fatalities involving young drivers are the result of a distracted driver. Often it's the teens themselves", Kyle Dailey, director of Drivers Education in Broward County high schools, told CBS4.
Irv Slosberg, whose daughter was killed by a distracted driver, is lobbying legislators to raise the legal driving age to 17 and ban text messaging on the roadways.
Texting while driving can be just as deadly as someone who has taken a few shots of whiskey and decides to take a spin, a 2008 British study concluded.
Local
Beyond being annoying to other motorists, driving texters have slower reaction time than drinkers or someone who has just smoked marijuana.
So kids, here's a rule of thumb: Using your hands for anything other than driving when you are behind the wheel is generally a bad idea.
