Driving Distracted: How to save or end your life

How to avoid distracted driving

A couple of days ago, I was driving to class with my dad in the passenger seat as I haven’t gotten my driver’s license. I remember not feeling a hundred percent alert but against my better judgment I decided to ignore that feeling. I got into the driver’s seat and promptly made it out of the driveway with any problems. There was construction going on in the road way, and this could have been the cause of the slight mishap. As I reached the first turn, I took it too fast and ran over the curb with the back tire. Thank God no damage was done to the car, but if I hadn’t hit that curb, I may have made a more fatal mistake down the road.

After that scare, I really don’t trust my perception of distance while I am in the car. I often doubt whether I can fit in between cars, even when I can easily. This is the down side of that incident. Now on the other hand, I trust my feelings a lot more. If I feel I can make it somewhere, then I will drive. The doubt can be fixed with more practice driving. The lesson however could not be learned any other way, and because of that I am pretty glad that this mistake happened. Now I know when to avoid driving and to perk up and pay attention when I am on the road.

Now what I would have done differently that day is listen to my brain telling me that I was too tired to be driving. I could have instead told my dad that I just didn’t feel like driving that day and leave it at that. Sometimes that’s all it takes to stop serious injury. You just have to not ignore your intuition. I think If everyone stopped and listened to their intuition instead of ignoring it we might save ourselves a heap of trouble. There are countless stories where I have heard of people getting a bad feeling before something happens. If you get a bad feeling, the best thing to do would be to fix whatever is causing that. I am not saying you can avoid driving just because you feel like something is off. I am just saying that if you feel this way, pay attention to the road.

However, driving distracted wasn’t something that just affected me. It also has affected countless others within the United states. According to the CDC, about nine people die every day from distracted driving. This is about 3285 people per year. This tragic fact could be avoided, simply by realizing that choices can be made that could avoid this outcome. Having someone else driving could mean the difference between life and death, and in life that is one of the most important things that one worries about.

What can be done about this however? How can Americans learn about the risks of driving distracted? This could be solved with one simple thing. A class in high school. Around the time of graduation, many kids are zipping around in their cars, going from one place to another. This would be the prime opportunity to teach them about the dangers of driving. Many students at this age are unaware or perhaps don’t care about the possibility of a car accident, as many of them think that it would never happen to them. That is why the dangers of driving should be learned in school, so at least they will be informed about the possible hazards of driving.

Now that I have learned this, I feel the need to share this information with all my family. There are three simple steps that I could take to do this. Number one would be to tell people that if they feel too tired to drive, then they probably are. Taking the time to drink a cup of coffee is better than having a massive hospital bill and higher car insurance. Number two would be that you need to make sure you have confidence on the road and pay attention to what speed you are making turns. If you have the right of way, nobody is going to run into you. People will slow down, so just take your time. Number three would be that people need to trust themselves. Trust your gut feelings. Slow down. Nothing is worth an accident on the road. So stay safe and keep your eyes on the road.