Dont Tempt Fate, The Text Can Wait

When I was 7 years old, my mother and I were coming back from my grandmother’s house. I remember sitting in the backseat, looking out the window up at the sky while listening to the radio and singing along. We came up on a four way crossroad where the streets to the right and left of us were stamped with stop signs. As I looked down for a second to take a break from the sky, I saw a car speeding by, obviously above the speed limit, completely disregarding the stop sign. I could feel my heart racing and almost beating out of my chest. It felt as though my heartbeat was even faster than the car about to hit us.

My mother screamed out, however at the time the words were lost to me. I just knew by the pure panic on her face, the fear radiating from her seat and the way that she slammed on the brakes that this moment was serious. Luckily, my mother was able to slam on the breaks in the exact instant that she needed to, allowing us to walk about from that frightening scenario with just a scraped bumper. Subsequently, both my mother and the driver of the other vehicle exit the car to conversate. As I watched this situation unfold before me, still shaken from the recent events I heard the other driver say he was “distracted”. Later my mother informed me that this distraction was caused by the driver being on his phone and not paying attention.

Now imagine: the exact same scenario unfolds, however my mother was driving just two miles faster, or wasn’t able to slam on the brakes at just the right moment. What could be the repercussions of such miniscule changes? Perhaps my mother and I wouldn’t have left that accident with only a scraped bumper, maybe that accident could have been fatal. Leaving that other driver responsible for the death of a mother and her child. In drivers education, I believe that the most important portion, one that typically people don’t think about is, how other drivers on the road view safe driving, and how even if you are doing all the right things, following all the education you were taught and all the rules of the road, it may not be enough. You need to be aware of what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, but also aware of what other drivers are doing.

Some of the easiest ways to prevent accidents are simple like using your turn signals, braking with reasonable timing, always checking your mirrors and following speed limits, it’ll give you more reaction time in case of any emergencies. Additionally when driving you want to make sure that you are steering clear of all distractions you may encounter.

In today’s society we are so focused on technology and our devices that distracted driving is a bigger problem than it has ever been before. Even more so, teenagers are reported to be the largest age group that cause distracted driving accidents. In response to this problem, several technology companies have created a software called “do not disturb”. This software aims to decrease the impulse to respond to messages and notifications as they are happening, by muting all notifications until the driver has reached their destination. It may be easy for drivers to believe that you can both text and drive, however, one text could be the difference between your life or the life of others. One study performed on users who used “do not disturb” found that it decreased phone usage while driving by 8% in turn preventing distracted driving incidents.

Although cell phone usage is one of the major causes of distracted driving, another cause that people typically do not think about is the distraction that children can cause in a vehicle. Preventing distractions caused by children can be difficult, however, if you put in place some small preventative measures they can dramatically reduce the risk of accidents. One idea for decreasing child distractions is to offer children food prior to trips. Children often make demands for snacks or drinks during drives, causing parents to take their eyes off the road in efforts to appease an upset child. Offering the child snacks prior to the trip can help decrease these demands and as such decrease the incidence of distracted driving.

To culminate what has been said above, drivers education is not and has never been something to take on lightly. Making sure that you, your passengers, and others on the road are safe should be your number one priority when preparing to attend to the road. Also remember to always, without failure, avoid all distractions, and never create any.