One Second

All it takes is one second to alter the course of your life. When driving, any distraction could be fatal. The simple action of reaching over to change the radio station, reaching behind you to comfort a crying child, anything that takes your eyes off the road while driving is a distraction. Even more in today’s time the need to stay connected to the outside world is one of the leading causes for car accidents. Staying safe on the road is hard enough without being distracted by a text message, phone call, or an Instagram notification. Being one of the leading causes for automobile crashes in recent years, distracted driving needs to be stopped.

Many people every year lose their parents, children, siblings, and friends to distracted driving. Many also come out of distracted driving alive with the lasting trauma resulting from it. In August 2020 I was one of these victims. It all started when a friend and I decided we wanted to go for a drive to unwind from a long day. I told her I wanted to drive knowing that I was going to be responsible and keep my eyes on the road at all times, but she said she would drive, I thought about what my friend was like, I knew she was somewhat responsible and I knew she would not do anything to intentionally hurt me, so I let her drive. This drive started off as any fun drive would, Listening to music, singing, dancing, and ranting about drama that happened at school. We had been going on for a while when my friend decided she needed to pick up her phone and check her Snapchat. Instantly I knew that something was going to go wrong, and you guessed it, it did. In the passenger seat I am watching everything unfold, next thing I know we are straddling the centerline when I say, “get in your lane, we are going to get hit”, freaking out my friend jerks her wheel to the right sending the car spinning out of control, we cross the center line somehow missing all oncoming traffic. Everything went black for me after that and next thing I know we are in a ditch on the opposite side of the road. At this point I was white as a ghost and struggling to breathe out of shock. After checking up on me my friend got out of the car to assess the damage and see if we needed to call someone. The only damage that she saw was a dent on the driver side front bumper, so she got back on the road and we stopped in a nearby parking lot. I proceeded to get out of the car and throw up out of complete shock and fear, as I had just stared death right in the face. The trauma from this accident will stick with me forever.

Since this accident has happened, I have removed this friend from my life and when others offer to drive, I hesitate. I only drive with those whom I know will not have even the temptation to get on their phones. When people ask me why I hesitate to let others drive, I tell them this story, hoping to make an impression on them. As teenagers we all think we are invincible and have the mentality of “it won’t happen to us” but it can and if you are not careful, it will.

The one accident I have been in taught and traumatized me enough to where I want to make a change and spread awareness to this ongoing issue. My school every couple of years has a demonstration of a car accident which always leaves many in tears, thinking about all of the unsafe things that they have done while driving that put their lives at risk. I think that something like this needs to be done every year and all over the country. This is a very moving example of what can happen in an instant when distracted behind the wheel.

Another way to bring awareness to this issue would be required classes or seminars where real people who have lost a loved one to distracted driving or someone like me who has been involved in a distracted driving accident comes to speak and tell their story. This could show people what has happened to others and that it could possibly happen to them if they drive distracted or if someone else on the road is driving while distracted. One topic to bring up during these seminars that would be eye opening to many would be the real numbers of how many people have been involved and died from distracted driving. So many people, not just teenagers, are unaware of the real statistics. These seminars could spread awareness to the topic because most people, especially teenagers, don’t think anything bad will happen to them, until it does. 

All of these accidents take place in automobiles, whether that be a bus, van, car, or truck, all of these accidents happen when someone is in a vehicle. There is enough technology in today’s world that there are eye trackers and lane trackers in the newest models of cars. When these features become a more widely known thing, I think all cars should be equipped with it for no extra cost. When these features become available at the base model of a car, it will ultimately save so many people loads of money. This will save money on hospital expenses and it will reduce the amount of cars that are bought because of crashes. Hopefully in the future these will become safety features that are required in all cars, much like seatbelts. Now, like seat belts, this kind of technology in cars will not save everyone from getting in a distracted driving accident, but I will reduce the likelihood by tenfold. This will also help people who have been in car accidents ease their nerves knowing that there is technology trying to keep them safe. 

To ensure the safety of myself and those around me, I keep my phone out of sight and out of reach when driving. While it seems like such a simple thing to do, most will end up picking up their device at a red light or in stopped traffic but by not being in the position to reach it, I do not think about it. Texting, calling and checking social media are the most common distractions in our daily lives, I refuse to allow myself to be distracted by them when driving. Since technology has advanced so much, we tend to have handsfree technology in cars which helps if I do need to make an emergency call, which is rare. I downloaded Life360 when I turned fifteen so my parents can know when I reach a destination, see my speed, and ensure my overall safety. This has held me more accountable when it comes to my speed and how I overall drive.

Driver’s Education courses are vital to inform new drivers on the safety and reality of driving. We were shown videos and pictures that are engrained in my brain, listened to guest speakers about how distracted driving affected their lives and log our hours of driving each week for an assignment. However, in Alabama, we are not required to take a driver’s education course, however I did and it was highly beneficial. To obtain our legal license, we are only required to have our permit for six months and have completely thirty hours of supervised driving. If we truly want to keep the roads safe, states like Alabama should require everyone to take a driver’s education class and present a log sheet of driving. I felt that by taking the course, I was taught the key skills and knowledge I need to be a safe driver.

Driving is an activity that requires a person’s full attention. Anything that takes a person’s eyes off the road is distracting and dangerous. After being in a car accident myself I have solutions and ideas that may help future generations of drivers stay focused and safe while driving. School demonstrations, seminars, drivers education classes, and widely distributed technology are some of the ways that I think would lessen the amount of accidents and the amount of people lost from distracted driving.