That Split Second

“Why would anyone text and drive?” It might seem like there is a simple answer to this question, however, thousands if not millions of people text and drive every day. You might be reading this and saying to yourself “I’m a great multitasker and I’ve never put myself in a dangerous situation by texting and driving”, however 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the U.S is caused by distracted driving. Now, you also might be thinking “well it’s only 1 out of 4, what’s the big deal?”. That 1 out of 4 is still 25%. Every year there are at least 1.6 million crashes due to texting and driving.

Keeping those statistics in mind we can appreciate the importance of paying close attention and learning from drivers ed and defensive driving lessons. Not only do these teach you how to obey and understand the rules of the road, drivers ed is a crucial step to getting behind the wheel. Your safety and the safety of others should be the most important thing while you are driving. Little distractions, like looking at your phone, make the roads very unsafe. Taking drivers ed courses are especially important for teenagers, because they are still developing the concept of responsibility and awareness. They fail to realize that there aren’t only cars on the road but pedestrians and cyclists too, so you need to have your full undivided attention on your surroundings at all times.

Although no one would like to get in a car accident, they still happen. A way that we can reduce the number of deaths and injuries related to driving is by staying alert. I believe all phone companies should install programs into every phone so that when an individual is driving, it automatically shuts off. Yes, some phones go on sleep mode or do not disturb, but that still doesn’t prevent people from going on them. We need a way for drivers to have little to no access to them while drivng.

I was once in a minor car accident with my father many years ago and the young adult behind us was too focused on their phone to realize we were approaching a red light and rear-ended us. Their excuse was that they were texting their girlfriend and they didn’t mean to hit us. This made me realize that the anxious feeling of “dying” to respond to a text is nothing compared to the potential death of everyone involved in the accident. There have been too many cases of young adults making poor decisions of being on their phones thinking “it’s only for a split second”. That split second is the second that’s going to determine whether you and others are going to live or not in the seconds that follow.

At the end of the day, no text is too important to distract yourself while driving. The next time you go for a drive please ensure you and everyone else in your car has their seat belt on, make sure you as the driver are aware of your surroundings, always check your blind spots and at all cost stay off your phone!