I grip the steering wheel as the electric golf cart barely hit 5 miles per hour.

A CSUF police officer sits in the passenger seat next to me. 

“Go faster,” he tells me.

I hesitate as I swerve away from a giant orange cone, trying not to hit the imaginary child the cone represented. 

I breathe a sigh of relief as I continue to move the cart at a turtle’s pace.

I, along with 15 other CSUF students, spent our Friday morning driving around the Lot A parking lot in golf carts provided by the campus police. We had to drive the carts through a course set up by police and text at the same time. The goal was to show the dangers of distracted driving, which includes  texting and driving. While some of us got through the course with ease, others struggled.

Like any other kid growing up in our generation, I have always been warned never to use my phone while driving. However, I am guilty of going on it to change a song, check a notification, or even send a quick message to a friend. Everyone is guilty of this to some degree.

Although the CSUF police do this demonstration in Professor Robert Quezada’s classes, they have also done it with students on-campus outside of class. I watched the police line up the cones to create a course that looked like half of a circle with sharp turns. 

Waiting for the two golf carts, I felt a bit nervous. Not only was I going to be driving in front of the police, but also driving in front of my classmates.

Police Officer Brandon Marantz talked with our class before we started. A CSUF alumni and fellow Communications graduate, he listed many facts about the dangers of texting and driving. While concerning, this was only a brief extent of the dangers of texting and driving.

Using your phone while driving is illegal in the state of California, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. It also increases your chances of getting into a crash by three times. 

In 2021, there were 3,522 deaths caused by distracted driving, meaning someone was on their phone, eating, reaching for something, or even talking with someone. These deaths could have been prevented easily. 

“Nine percent of fatalities are caused by distracted driving,” Marantz told us. “666,000 people are on their phones every day while driving. Be honest; raise your hand if you have used your phone while driving.”

All of us raised our hands except one of my classmates, AJ Yabut. She does not have her driver’s license. 

“I practiced for this by playing Mario Kart,” Yabut kept telling me as people began to load into the carts. 

I could sense her nervousness. 

We all had two tasks. One, drive through the course without hitting any cones. Two, text “Let’s go see Guardians of the Galaxy” while we drive.

Cameron Macedonio was one of the first to complete the course and send the text message. He did it with ease.

“I didn’t do as bad as I thought I would,” Macedonio said to me a few days later. “It definitely opened my eyes as to how bad it is to text and drive—I always knew, but I still did it—and I can safely say I do it way less now.”

After a few groups went, it was my turn.

I hopped in a cart with Marantz, along with Juliana White and Kristen Bedard. 

Bedard began to drive forward slowly. However, she made one mistake: bringing a snack with her.

“I think you’re hungry,” Marantz said to her.

Marantz told her to eat her snack, making her reach over her wheel to grab it, causing her to hit a cone in the process. 

Marantz was making it his goal to make this hard for us.

Now it was my turn. I sat in the driver’s seat and stepped on the accelerator. White and Bedard recorded my driving attempt.

“Thank God that’s over,” I said to White as we exited the cart after her turn. 

“I didn’t get the entire text, but I only bumped into a few cones,” White said to me. “My brain got a little overloaded trying to send the text, not hit any cones, and follow Officer Marantz’s directions.”

We watched Yabut get into the golf cart and cheered her on as she began to drive. Yabut stepped on the gas, barely turning into the course. I could hear her yells as she rolled over a cone. The police stopped her cart and removed the cone from under the wheels. If that cone was a human, they would be a goner.

When Yabut drove back to us, I cheered for her. For someone who doesn’t have a license, I was expecting her to hit every cone. I hear a ping on my phone as I see a message from Yabut: “lets go to hguta.”

I'll be sticking to the voice assistant in my car to send text messages instead of myself from now on.