Let's Talk About It Poem by Lauryn Penland

My mother died on February 24 2016, when she was traveling on the entrance ramp to northbound I-29 from Mexico City Avenue. She traveled off the roadway and overcorrected, sending herself and her truck down an embankment. Ejected from her vehicle, she was dead on arrival.



My grandmother told me soon after that my mom had taken her seatbelt off, and leaned down to let her 3 legged cat, Cooper, out of his kennel. She said she took her eyes off the road for a little too long and it all went downhill from there. Literally.



But, my mom never wore her seatbelt. She always had her phone in her hand, either texting someone or scrolling through Facebook. Well, not even texting, she always used the speech to text feature but she didn't understand that she didn't have to put the speaker of her phone up to her mouth for it to hear her... anyway..



February 24th 2016, I am 14 years old. My relationship with my mother is taken from me before I even get to experience it.



Fast forward one year. I'm sitting in the passenger seat of my 18 year old sister's car on the way to the shopping mall when my boyfriend's best friends pull up next to us at the stoplight while I'm screaming at my sister for texting and driving. I've done this many times before but she never seems to listen and I'm tired of screaming to be heard so let's talk about it.


Let's talk about how 11 teenagers will die every day as a result of texting and driving. Let's talk about the AAA poll stating that 94% of teen drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving and 35% still admit to doing it anyway. Let's talk about how 21% of teens involved in fatal accidents were distracted by their cell phones. Let's talk about how my father expects me to text him and inform him of my arrival and departure at every place I go and I can only imagine the anxiety he feels in between. Let's talk about how answering a text diverts your attention from the road for about five seconds. Driving at 55 miles per hour, that's enough time to travel the length of a football field. Let's talk about how 1 in 4 car crashes in the United States is caused by texting and driving. Let's talk about how I can't say 'car crash' without wincing. Let's talk about how I can't say texting and driving without thinking of my mother. Let's talk about how my mother is now not a person but a statistic. Let's talk about the look on my father's face when he had to tell his two daughters that their mother was dead. Let's talk about how I start sweating when people ask when I'm going to get my driver's license because i'm terrified of driving and becoming a statistic. Let's talk about how a text can wait. Let's talk about how everything can wait. Why are we always in such a hurry?