The Plauge

They say the deadliest weapon is yourself. We, as able bodied creatures, are given freedoms others can’t even fathom. So, why do we take those freedoms and endanger others? Why do we choose to play life on the edge and possibly lose the great gift that was given to us? One of our biggest freedoms has been communication. Through generations of savages, cave people, and eventually us, human beings have used communication to carry one thought or idea to another so said thought or idea can be provoked or agreed upon. The invention of cell phones in the early 2000s and the instant attention they received isn’t the only thing that became relevant. While these devices allow users to communicate with people around the world at all times, their compulsive nature causes some drivers to be unable to put it down. These drivers, especially teenagers and young adults, find themselves in many accidents. Too often, teenagers say nothing while their friend at the wheel sends one more snap or searches for that one song on Spotify. In order to save the lives of thousands each year, the culture around texting and driving must eradicate and friends can no longer sit idly by while their transportation dances with death.

Although texting and driving definitely isn’t the only issue in unsafe and uneducated driving, I do believe it plagues the majority of upcoming drivers who’ve sat in their parents or siblings cars watching them multitask between driving and their phones. It is very crucial to set an example for young drivers, while still educating yourself. According to a study done by NewsRoom, teens taking driver education are less likely to be involved in crashes or to receive a traffic violation during their first two years of driving. A pivotal step parents can take into road safety, is placing their children in Drivers Ed. Children enrolled in Drivers Ed are more likely to make correct split second decisions when driving, help teenagers develop rudimentary vehicle control and traffic maneuvers. It teaches students how to safely operate a vehicle on busy interstates, at night, and during other dangerous driving circumstances. Without Drivers Ed, a teenager is more likely to not understand the importance of road safety and the validity of their actions.

From my own experience, I know the anxious feeling when my friend glances down at her phone for a few seconds as we speed down the road. Sometimes I say nothing. I’m afraid to come off “lame” or to place myself in a confrontation. And believing that ‘only a few seconds won’t hurt’ is the problem. On average, replying to a text message takes five seconds, and, if traveling sixty miles per hour, the car can travel over three hundred yards in that time. Even the “quick glance” at the phone can allow the car to cover enough ground to collide with another vehicle that previously was out of sight. The other side of the danger is that a person could easily hit a pedestrian, biker, or animal. The most common cause of distracted driving, from my experience, is the changing of music. When I drive around with my friends, we utilize the time to show one another new music. This causes the driver to stare at their phone for an extended amount of time, searching through tens of playlists to find ‘the one that has been stuck in my head all day’ . This time, as stated before, can cause death and destruction. While peering at their phone, the person is quite literally driving blind.

As a teenager there are many ways to combat this. The first, and maybe the easiest, is to speak up. If you notice your friend making a quick move to her phone, just remember what damage that can cause. It’s okay to set boundaries and realize that you potentially saved yourself along with harmless passerby’s. The feeling of guilt or embarrassment will subside, and if your friend truly cares for you, they will realize that your warning was not made to threaten but made out of love. Companies like T-Mobile have even jumped on the bandwagon and let go of the stereotypical drunk driving commercials and started incorporating cell phones. These ads depict horrific scenarios that come from distracted driving. These sometimes-graphic commercials allow the public to witness these terrible occurrences. In today’s society that is desensitized to many violent or horrible images, the commercials must be able to shock the audience into fear. This is the only way to burn into young-adults mind’s what their seemingly-normal actions can do.

Personally, I know I can up my safe driving game, most people can. You may not realize it, but eating while driving is a habit that is also very deadly. You shift your focus to another activity while taking a hand of the wheel to bite into that juicy Big Mac and before you know it you’ve hit someone. Reckless decisions while driving, whether they seem miniscule or drastic, can change someone’s life forever. There are hundreds of ways that you can become a safe driver. Taking a moment to just get in your head and focus on the road, swiftly moving your eyes around the scene to stay connected, and understanding that sometimes people make mistakes and that road rage won’t help anyone, will truly make an impact on your driving.

Distracted driving remains a critical danger to every person on the road, whether they drive while using a cell phone or not. At any given time, a person sending that “quick text” can slam into an innocent person driving to work, dropping their children off at daycare, or leaving their friend’s house. The time to sit silently and watch people die every day from distracted driving is over. Through attending Drivers Ed, speaking up, continuing educational commercials, and stopping yourself when you notice reckless behavior, you can not only save yourself, but others as well. Distracted driving truly is a plague and can only be stopped when people open their eyes to this immediate threat to America.