Creating Safe Driving Habits

Ariana Oliva

Creating Safe Driving Habits

Drivers ed is an important step in the driving process. When you take your drivers ed course it teaches you the necessities to be safe and keep others safe on the road. Drivers ed allows you to learn what to do in certain situations and conditions. You may encounter some of these situations and conditions or you may never encounter them but you are still prepared for them. Important steps to take in order to reduce the number of deaths relating to driving is to never be on your phone while driving. According to The National Safety Council, reports state that: “cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year”. This is an extremely high and alarming number of crashes. These crashes result in the death of family, friends, or any loved one. I thankfully have never been in a car accident or had a friend or family member in an accident. I have this friend that tends to text while driving and one day I was in the car with her and told her that I felt unsafe when she texts and drives. I explained that she was putting my life, her own life, and the life of others at risk. Ever since then she has never again texted while driving. I, like every other person, does get distracted while driving. I have noticed that the following things distract me while driving, texting, focusing on changing the music, and playing my music loudly. Now I am not the type of driver to be mindlessly texting. I only text when there is a message from my parents and sister. But there are situations where I get a notification from my friend’s group chat and decide to check. Texting and driving is most common around teenagers and young adults. In the article “Cell phone use while driving statistics and texting and driving texts” by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute states: “Cell phone use behind the wheel reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent”. We lose 37 percent of our brain activity that should be focused on driving and redirect it to our phone. When reading this statistic I was in disbelief at how high this percentage was. Some steps I can take to avoid texting and driving is: Turning my phone on do not disturb or since I have an Iphone there is a feature in your setting that is “do not disturb while driving” and this sends a notification to friends or family who message you that you are driving. This is an amazing feature on your phone and I think many teenagers and young adults should be using this. I am going to get in the habit of turning on this feature once I get into my car to ensure safety while driving. Similarly, if one day I do forget to turn this feature on and I receive a text message of notification and I want to check, I will pull over on the side of the street, park, and then check my message. Another distracted habit that I need to change is avoiding focusing on changing the music. When I am driving I love listening to music. But there are times where I just keep skipping through songs trying to find that right one and I notice that I look away from the road a little too long to see what song is playing on my radio screen. Although I do have the “handsfree” feature on my car and I can change the song from my steering wheel I tend to always take a look at my radio screen to see which song is playing. Some steps I will take to ensure that my full attention is on the road and I am not focusing on changing the music is creating a playlist of songs I specifically want to hear before I get into the car and start driving. Additionally, if I find myself continuing to focus on changing the music I can disconnect my phone and just listen to the radio that way I do not have the option to be switching between songs and looking away from the road. Lastly, I need to avoid playing my music loudly. While driving it is important to see and hear your surroundings. If I can not hear my surroundings I am not only putting myself in danger but others too. Although I love music and it brings me peace while driving I need to get in the habit of playing my music at a reasonable and safe volume. In order to achieve this I will have a volume between 10-12, whatever is reasonable for the area I am driving in. This is important because sometimes I raise the volume all the way up to 20 or 22. I will get into the habit of not raising my volume beyond 12 to ensure I can hear my surroundings so that others and myself are safe. These distracted driving habits like most habits will take time and dedication to break. It is important to see where your weaknesses as a driver are and make the effort to change them for your safety and the safety of others. I, myself as a young adult driving will take my own steps and advice to ensure my safety and the safety of others.