The news report about Christal McGee, a young teen, getting in a car crash after going over 100 mph when the speed limit was 55 mph while using Snapchat’s speed filter, has been spreading like wildfire. While it is unclear whether the accusations are true, this is a good time to reexamine the debate on texting and driving.

It is currently illegal in Florida to text while driving. Most people are aware that texting and driving are secondary offenses, but some people probably aren’t aware that using any instant messaging app can also be considered texting.

Snapchat and other messaging apps qualify as instant messaging. Therefore, it is illegal to Snapchat and drive at the same time.

In recent years, car crashes due to distracted driving caused by cell phones have become increasingly frequent.

If you need to break the speed limit to impress your friends, you need different friends. After all, there’s nothing cool about putting yourself and others in danger.

Millions of people die in car accidents every year. Of those crashes, over twenty five percent are attributed to texting and driving.

Whenever a person takes the wheel of a car, they are taking on the responsibility of keeping themselves and everyone else on the roads safe.

Going fast, while it may be thrilling, can become a nightmare in a split second.

Despite the fact that not all car crashes result in death, most still result in injury, so when considering sending a quick message while driving it’s important to ask what’s more important, a message that in the case of Snapchat won’t last more than a day, or a lifetime of pain?

Texts and calls can wait, because if someone is in an accident caused by phone distractions, they could die, and then they’d never be able to respond.

The best advice for anyone who finds themselves being easily distracted by their phone while driving is to put the phone away.

If a message has to be responded to as soon as possible, drivers should wait until they get to a stop light. This isn’t ideal, but it’s better than checking a phone while in motion.

It only takes a few seconds to power off a phone or set it aside while driving. Maybe in the future, everyone will have self-driving cars, but until that is a reality, we all need to take responsibility for how we use technology and not affect innocent bystanders because we get caught up in the concept that everything has to be instantaneous.