A Preventable Tragedy

Gabrielle Ford

Driving and Traffic School

October 4, 2021

A Preventable Tragedy

A quiet ringing echoes throughout the cabin of your car. You attempt to ignore it, yet the device’s drilling tone creeps further and further into your mind. A glance down reveals it’s a call from your boss. Begrudgingly, you pick it up. Suddenly, aggravated, screeching sounds piece through the bustling road noise. A maroon car flies through the interstate’s road rails. Other drivers swerve and desperately try to escape the course of impact. Glazing up, you see the monstrous vehicle, but it is too late. Your life’s story is forever stuck on hold. Throughout the United States, thousands of drivers die yearly due to distracted driving. These events are tragic and cause grief to ripple through communities and families. Yet, drivers repeatedly fail to learn from these tragedies and recognize how preventable they are. With a coalition of driver education, driver awareness, and harsh legislation against distracted operators, communities could prevent these deaths and create safer roads for all citizens.

In the United States, teenagers can obtain their driving licenses at approximately sixteen years of age. Before receiving their license, they must practice driving with an adult for a set period of hours. This preparation is essential for a young adult’s success on the road. However, many students still disregard tutoring from a licensed instructor. These young adults miss out on personalized education that targets their weaknesses, such as changing the radio or answering a phone call. Through repetition, students can instead be taught to operate a vehicle without partaking in negative behaviors. Unlike licensed instructors, parents may be more lenient to unhealthy behavior. They may possess the belief that their child is safe on the road or exemplify hazardous behaviors themselves. Teenagers should be mandated to complete online instruction. In doing so, students would learn the effects of distracted driving and the regulations that apply to operating a vehicle. The issuance of education would at least provide teenagers with brief exposure to the pitfalls of distracted driving. However, over time this exposure could lead to more intelligent decision-making and a safer road environment for drivers.

While education is a keystone to safe vehicle management, active attempts to create and rejuvenate awareness of the effects of distracted driving are also crucial. Communities should produce billboards, signs, and brochures stating national or state statistics of the perils. Similarly, personal testimony should be available on government-regulated websites or posted as advertisements. Data and testimony would display how common wrecks are and would likely disconcert drivers who make poor decisions. Thus, citizens would feel more inclined to maintain better driving standards. In addition, if citizens faced repetition of statistics and testimony, it would reinforce that distracted driving is causing a crisis throughout the United States. These reminders would serve as encouragement for participants to stop.

In unity, education and awareness are concrete formulas to lower the rates of distracted driving in the United States. Nevertheless, the third and final ingredient to improve distracted driving is to instate stricter punitive measures against drivers. If an operator picks up their phone while the vehicle is in motion, they should automatically receive a ticket or warning. Likewise, operators should receive consequences when touching dashboard control screens or applying makeup. Since these behaviors are not currently punished, drivers take advantage of the judicial leeway. They partake in behaviors that divert their attention from the roadway and reassert their attention to unimportant matters. Introducing legislation would force operators to reevaluate their behaviors and commit to better decision-making. If they failed to improve their choices, they would be issued punishment.

Throughout my lifetime, I have experienced few moments when I felt genuine fear. Yet, nothing feels similar to not being able to control your fate. Several weeks after I obtained my driver’s license, I almost struck someone with my car. I was leaving school when a song came on the radio that I liked. For just a few seconds, I looked down, and I nearly became another statistic. Better awareness, increased education, and harsher legislation could prevent tragedies caused by distracted driving. These facile solutions would encourage operators to ponder their actions and opt for safe roadways. Measures must be taken to improve the security of every man, woman, and child on the road. Petitioning local legislators and encouraging your child to complete basic education are concrete steps needed to resolve this issue. Together, Americans will create a better tomorrow.