Is Your Phone Worth More Than Your Life?

Whether it is liking someone’s picture on Instagram or texting someone that you are coming to pick them up, your phone takes all of your current attention away from everything else you’re doing. In aiming to reduce the number of deaths, driver education should include courses specifically on the topic of distracted drivers. The simple steps that can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving can be reducing the usage of cell phones in the cabin. Phones would not be distracting to a driver if they were not allowed to access certain things on your phone once your bluetooth is connected and the car is moving. One major change that I would implement if I was someone like Elon Musk would be only allowing certain music playing apps to be accessed while the car is connected to bluetooth and in drive. A crazy fact I found out about is that distracted driving kills almost 700% more deaths on average per year than shark attacks. This to me is bizarre, but also could have been seen coming considering the amount of new drivers each year as well as the amount of 16-23 year olds on the roads at all times. Reducing dangerous driving habits only begins with oneself though. This essay can be pages in length but if I do not include myself in terms of not being a distracted driver, change is never going to occur. To me this means more of a progressive push towards something as opposed to giving a simple answer to something that is overly complex.

Though I believe that a majority of car accidents occur due to distracted drivers, things such as taking unnecessary risks or making a bad decision can lead to a car accident just as frequently as a distraction. I have been in 2 car accidents in my whole life, thankfully, none of them being my own fault, and only 1 where I was the driver. However, what I would like to include in this essay is about the experience my friend had when they got into a car accident. After taking prom pictures and heading into a limousine to drive them to the actual dance, their limo driver was going too fast to make the red light and couldn’t stop in time, so he decided to run a very very stale red light. This resulted in them being t-boned by a big Cadillac Escalade type of vehicle going around 50 miles per hour. This could have easily been a tragic story of some high school kids heading to prom, but thankfully God was on their side. This was very big and made the news on many different stations, which was unreal to me. Luckily though, only 3 of the 12+ people were injured from the accident, one with a broken arm, and two others with concussions and head injuries.

Some steps people can take in reducing car accidents and overall becoming a better driver is getting off social media. I mean this in the world outside of the streets because of the overall attention span social media allows you to zone in on. When you scroll on social media, something only catches your eye for a couple of seconds at a time. This is partially also the reason why TikTok has exploded as a new social media platform. Translate this into a world where you have to be attentive for a lot longer than 15 seconds at a time, and people start to crumble. Another way to approach steps towards becoming a better driver is by mentioning to friends and family not to use their phone while driving. While you are also driving, make it very clear to others that people should not use their phones while driving, and correct them if they are while they are driving. Often hinting at such things can allow for this thought in the back of their head to appear more and more obvious. Psychologically, people do something subconsciously if they pick up on other people starting off with the lead. For example, if I am someone who often says out loud, “I really need to start eating healthier,” or “I wish I ate a little cleaner,” and started actually eating cleaner around your friends, they might in turn want to require the same of themselves. After going to eat out with friends for the third time and seeing you not eat the food because you have this standard of “eating cleaner,” your friend might also start buying into what you bought into. I believe the same basic principles, based on my broad understanding of psychology, can be applied to safe driving tips.