Death By Distraction

Drivers Ed Online Scholarship Essay

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2018 alone, 2,841 lives were lost and an estimated 400,00 injuries were a result of distracted driving. In an age of technology, with the world in our back pockets, we as a society have normalized death by distraction. It is unacceptable that we are willing to put our lives on the line to send a text, or change the song we are listening to. Something must be done about it.

As a young person in today’s world, I can admit that we are very dependent on technology, as it is something we have grown up with, unlike the generations before us. Even as I’m writing this essay, I have my headphones on, listening to music. The world we live in is rapidly changing, technology is getting more advanced and more accessible than ever. But with growth, comes risk. Our phones can automatically connect to our cars to play music or read our notifications to us which is amazing but too many times have I felt unsafe as a friend driving me home stops to look at their phone, or I see a person speeding down the highway blasting music so loud that even I can hear it. And just as many times have I seen on the news that someone my age died in a car crash because of distractions.

I am tired of driving by family-made memorials of their lost loved ones on the side of the road and I will not stand by as my peers are dying of reasons they should not be dying for. We as a society, as a collective group of people, need to make strides to keep our roads and our fellow citizens safe. We need to pass laws for stricter punishments for texting while driving, create phone softwares that can detect when you’re driving and automatically shut off notifications, and most importantly, be aware of our own actions and educate the people around us to be safer.

2,841 lives were lost. That is 2,841 too many, and we need to recognize, reflect, and change together.