The Dangers of the Phone: A Potential Solution

I was sitting in the passenger seat of my friend’s beat up car, due to all the accidents he had been in through the years. My first mistake was thinking his irresponsible driving had gone away when his words promised it did. I remember asking him for his phone the second I sat down in the seat, and he refused to give it to me. One of my biggest flaws is that I am a people pleaser, so of course I didn’t fight him. Instead, I was tensed up and shaking the entire car ride because his eyes rarely lifted up from the deadly screen. I kept reminding him that the text messages and notifications would be there when we arrived at our destination, but that wasn’t good enough for him. After several close calls and me yelling his name to avoid an accident, his phone took all his attention and we rear-ended a car in front of us. I knew it was coming, so I braced for impact. My friend on the other hand, had his phone fling up and hit him in the mouth. Two of his teeth were chipped, which presented many issues of their own.

Many drivers, young drivers especially, believe that what they see on their screen is more important than seeing what is on the road. From now on, every time I get in the car with somebody, I ask if I can have their phone to play music. They typically will say yes, so I will keep their phone with me until we get to our destination. This has drastically reduced the amount of distraction and irresponsible driving I have witnessed when I am a passenger. When I am driving, I throw my phone in the backseat or give it to my passengers. I truly believe phones are the number one distraction among drivers, and steps need to be taken to prove just how dangerous those screens can be while driving.

Driver’s education is the first and most important step to take before getting behind the wheel. When I was going through these classes, I remember being shown graphic and scary videos of distracted drivers. There was one video I remember in particular where a young teenager was texting with both of her hands and steering the wheel with her knee. She inevitably got into a car accident, and both of her legs had to be amputated. At the time, I was deeply disturbed and questioned why the people who were supposed to be teaching me how to drive were showing me the exact thing I shouldn’t be doing. I became nauseous and scared to start driving. However, now that I have been driving for a few years, I think about that video every time I get behind the wheel. I see now that the driver’s education instructors were relying partly on the fear factor. After seeing that video and many other similar ones, I have never made the same mistakes that the ones in the videos did. I think showing more videos and telling more stories like this to new drivers will reduce the number of deaths related to driving.

In addition to showing graphic stories like the ones I experienced, I think driver’s education should become more interactive and less lecture. Young teenagers do not like getting talked at, so they are going to be less likely to pay attention and retain the information when they are bored. There was a skid pad at my driver’s school. At the end of every class I went to, I would get in the car with one of the instructors, and she would teach me how to control the car if it ever started skidding. Then, I was given the opportunity to do the same. Being able to correct these problems in a controlled environment has made me much less stressed when I come into contact with them while driving on my own. By making driver’s education more interactive, young drivers will be more interested in safe driving techniques and will be more likely to remember what they learned. Instead of being a boring and bothersome box to checkoff, driver’s education could become a valuable and enjoyable learning experience.

When new drivers are aware of the startling facts associated with irresponsible driving and death, they will be more likely to limit their distractions while driving. By removing phones from the hands of the driver and making driver’s education more interactive, the number of deaths can be drastically reduced. I have used my own experiences and learning lessons to become a safer driver, and making slight changes to the driver’s education curriculum will allow other drivers to take responsibility of their driving, and thus their own and others’ lives.