Safe Driving Essay

I am Garrett Young. I’m currently a student at Calhoun Community College in Huntsville, Alabama but will transfer to Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, in January. My major is Professional Flight and my goal is to become a commercial airline pilot. Although I’m studying aviation, driving is how I get around daily, as I go to school or church and when I run errands or go hang out with my friends, so safety on the roads is really important to me.

You can’t drive safely unless driving has your full attention.

In 2017, Don Kidd, an attorney at the Texas law firm of Perdue & Kidd, used information from the CDC to write a blog, on his firm’s website, about the four different types of driver distractions. They are:

• Visual – looking at something other than the road

• Auditory – hearing something not related to driving

• Manual – manipulating something other than the steering wheel

• Cognitive – thinking about something other than driving

In his article, Mr. Kidd made reference to texting being one of the most dangerous distractions because it uses 3 of the 4 types of distractions; visual, manual, and cognitive. Even though Mr. Kidd is not an “expert” on distracted driving, I agree with him. I think our cell phones are the leading cause of distracted driving for my generation because of all the social media apps that we use. We like to keep up with each other by taking pictures of various landmarks, to snap chat our current location. And we definitely text more than we talk.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, 1 of every 4 car accidents is due to texting while driving. Although any non-driving activity can increase your risk of crashing, texting while driving doubles your risk of having an accident. The average text causes you to take your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. With an average highway speed of 70 mph, that’s like driving the length of 2 football fields with your eyes closed.

When I first started driving, my mom used to tell me to put my cell phone in the glove box every time I got in the car. That way, I had my phone with me in case of an emergency but I would not be tempted to use it while I was driving.

Another dangerous behavior that I’ve been guilty of is “zoning out”. Sometimes, I’ll get in my car to go somewhere and when I park at my destination, I realize that I don’t even know how I got there. It’s worse when I’m by myself because when it’s really quiet, my mind starts to wander. One thing that seems to help me with that is listening to music. But, not too loud because that can create a whole other distraction.

We need to be OK with, and not embarrassed about, talking to our friends about their bad driving habits and encourage good behavior, especially when we are a passenger in their car. Another way we can avoid distracted driving is to give our phone to a passenger, if there is one. That way, he/she can answer calls or texts and let the caller know that we can’t answer the phone because we’re driving. Plus, the passenger can “DJ” so we are not fooling with the radio or a music app.

As young drivers, we’ve heard it all when it comes to not staying focused while driving but we always want to think that “it could never happen to me”. To be honest, a visual image impacts us more. Not to be morbid or anything, but seeing the crash site or the wrecked car will having a much deeper effect on us, than just lecturing us on the dangers of distracted driving. Occasionally, parents need to talk to us about any driving concerns that we have because we’re still new to it. But, as I said before, we’re visual learners so they also have to lead by example and stay focused on the road, too.

In my opinion, there is no one specific thing that will stop distracted driving because there will always be some kind of distraction when we’re behind the wheel. But, if it’s a group effort, we can help lower the number of accidents. Young drivers, parents, friends, and our community have to do their part. We have to talk about, and continue to learn about, the different dangers. We have to support and encourage each other with our words and our actions. By doing these things, we all have a better chance of making it to our destination safely.