Driver Safety in the 21st Century

Most people are
taught well before they start driving not to text and drive, but
there is not much emphasis. Most high schools have health classes. At
my high school, we had a drivers ed class for one quarter, but
safe driving habits were only taught for a small part of the course.
One way to reduce dangerous driving habits is to teach safe driving
habits starting before high school, and continuing it throughout high
school. However, personal experiences from everyday life have the
most effect on teenagers’ driving habits. My mom sometimes uses her
phone while she is driving, and I am sure most other teenagers’
parents use their phones while driving too. I have never seen my mom
text or use social media; usually she just sets up her GPS or makes
calls, but this kind of behavior from parents, especially when they
are constantly telling their teenagers to not use their phones while
driving, is damaging and hypocritical. Parents should be made aware
of how they act while driving and take steps to avoid using their
phones while they drive. Most people learn from real life
experiences. Since most parents are experienced at driving and are
able to multitask on the road for a short period of time, it can
cause inexperienced teenage drivers to think they can get away with
using their phones while driving as well. Social media can also be
used to spread the message about safe driving habits and the dangers
of using your phone while driving. Most teenagers have some type of
social media and a lot of them spend a lot of time using it, so
promoting safe driving habits on social media would be effective in
reducing dangerous driving habits in teenagers. This idea is similar
to the anti smoking and vaping campaigns that I often see on youtube
and snapchat. When people are constantly exposed to the same thing,
they remember it. Lastly, one of the easiest ways to prevent bad
driving habits is to use the “Do Not Disturb While Driving”
feature that most phones have, which automatically turns on when the
phone senses your speed increase. When this is on, texts and
notifications are silenced until the driver stops driving. Obviously,
technology is becoming increasingly advanced, and cell phone
technology is becoming more intuitive. As big phone companies
continue to come out with new phones and develop more updates, we
should push them to create software that makes it harder for people,
especially teenagers, to use their phones while driving. Technology
is becoming more integrated into our everyday lives, so it is
important to focus on the effects it can have on teenage drivers, and
potentially use it to make teenagers safer.