Driver Education, Lucinda, Linda (RIP), and Lauryn

I was a model student in my high school driver’s education course, criticizing any infraction of the DMV handbook I had memorized. I have an early birthday and was one of the first drivers in my class. I purchased Lucinda, with money I raised training and selling a horse. Lucinda was a 2000 Ford 7.3l diesel F-250, she could pull anything and smoked like the dickens. Being able to haul my beloved horses interstate, knowing how to safety check a trailer and truck hitch, and driving Lucinda, I felt like I was way ahead with my practical knowledge of driver safety. I took drivers education in school and the trailer and towing safety curriculum of the US Pony Clubs very seriously.

Linda was beautiful, burgundy with a beige interior. She was a big girl, a 2017 F-250 that I bought with my first paycheck (and a huge loan) during the fall of my 2021 gap year. Linda was bigger than Lucinda and had all the new safety features you could wish for, including hands-free linkage to my iphone. The hands-free link and the console screen connected with my phone, protected me from breaking the hand-held cellphone laws in my state.

On October 19^th, 5 days after my 19^th birthday, a driver drifted into my lane on a tight 2-lane road I take to work in rural Pennsylvania. I don’t know if the driver was distracted, or if I looked down for a second as I swerved right, but the soft sloped shoulder grabbed my wheels, and I couldn’t pull back up on the road. Que the telephone pole which stopped my truck at 50 MPH. Witnesses saw something flying 20 feet in the air, that was the telephone pole. The other driver didn’t stop. I survived with a sprained thumb, and Linda gave her life for me, barely crumpled on the front passenger side, her internal damage hidden, but fatal.

As humans, we are uniquely challenged to put our phones down. I would say 3 out of 5 drivers I pass in on my rural roads are distracted by something, a phone held to the ear, a cheeseburger, looking down, applying makeup. Why is a driver reading a text on a center console any safer than one holding a phone? Hands free programs make driving and social media a safer mix, but I think we can do better. All phones should automatically shut off any program being used by the occupant of the driver’s seat other than wayfinding and phone calls when a car is in motion. Most phones already have an option for do not disturb while driving, but most teens (and adults) do not use this. I urge all cellular companies to offer a no-cost way for parents to disable phones for anything but wayfinding, SOS or hands-free calls while in a family-owned vehicle. The sophistication of technology, GPS, and tracing for cellular devices has got to include an overarching ability to make these devices safer for drivers. Lets’ face it, teenagers don’t always make the best decisions, I personally think it’s ok for regulatory boards and parents to step in to help save lives.

In addition to turning the web off, I believe we need graphic and focused public service messages about texting, surfing, and driving on the social media sites teens use the most. If Instagram can pop a message over my screen just like that, why can’t a well-designed emoji berate me to keep the social off in the car? A great campaign which uses humor (and equal parts horror) would be very effective at getting teens attention. It would be great if national and state highway safety groups, car makers, and social media companies would team up with teenagers to create an advisory board to brainstorm better ways to reach out to new drivers about the dangers of trying to stay connected while driving. WE know that we aren’t supposed to text and drive, but we need your help figuring out a better way to bring the reality home! Gen Z are technologically sophisticated, the high-powered devices we use should also be the safest.

Now I drive Lauryn, she is a 2021 F-350, big and black, I love her and believe me, my phone only takes hands free calls when I am driving. Even with my accident, I would be too tempted to read messages if I didn’t disable some features while driving. I know how close I have come to injuring myself and others while driving and “just checking” my phone.

For now, I am pledging to do the following:

Every time I see a friend look at their phone when driving, I will say something.

I will write to my local representatives asking how I can help to make driving safer and to urge them to make strict laws against texting or social media use while driving.

I pledge to keep other drivers and pedestrians safe by keeping my phone out of my hands and off my mind while driving, and I will urge my peers to follow suit.

I hope that by working together, teenagers, parents, phone makers, cellular carriers and state and national governing agencies can work together to keep all of us safer on and off the roads.