Speed. The Solution to Multitasking While Driving.

While driving down the road, you glance into your rear view mirror, noticing that the car behind is about to pull into the left lane and perform a passing maneuver. As the car approaches on your left hand side, curiosity causes you to take a look at who is doing the passing, and what you see is disturbing. There is a person in the car, and both of this person’s hands are threaded through the top portion of the steering wheel, holding a cellphone sideways, texting away. You sit there and think, “What the hell is keeping me from beating the daylights out of this person?” At that same moment, you realize that your phone has vibrated several times in the past 30 seconds, and fearful that whoever is trying to contact you may get impatient, you grab at your phone and start texting.

This is the problem with modern day commuters. They all say that texting while driving is an absolute no no, but the majority of them are vast hypocrites. To top it off, I’ve even seen police officers driving with their heads down, texting.

There have been many attempts to eliminate texting while driving. Television commercials show the aftermath of awful car accidents caused by texting. In addition, anti-texting laws have been enacted, punishing those who are caught. But, is it right that the police officer who was texting himself fines us for doing the same? I don’t think so. If you ask me, the best solution to this problem is a five-letter word.

Speed. No, I’m not under its influence as I write this, and I can explain why speed is a plausible cure to texting while driving. Those who maintain speeds in the triple digits and em pee gee's in the single digits will agree that at warp speed, you are automatically more focused. I would like to add that the faster you drive, the more focused you get exponentially. Your eyes, pinned to the road lying ahead, scan incessantly for potential hazards twice as much as usual. You also instinctively grip the steering wheel with both hands, and only after you've started slowing down, is the spike in adrenaline noticed.

Speed makes texting, or any other multitasking, for that matter, impossible mainly because you grip the wheel with both hands to have more control over the car, you have no more hands, I hope, to do anything with. Speed makes you value your life way more because a realization dawns on you, that, at higher speeds, a mistake will have higher consequences. So, you wouldn’t dare attempt to text or do anything other than drive.

This leads me to believe, that, if higher driving speeds were made mandatory, the roads would, on the contrary to everyone’s belief, become safer. Everyone, in fear of losing his or her life, would become focused on one thing, and one thing only, driving.