Distracted Driving

There is an urgent concern surrounding the high rates of deaths due to car accidents in the U.S. Many people, including myself, have known someone involved in a car accident, and some of these people have unfortunately lost a loved one due to car accidents. Though it’s a grave and widespread issue, there are many solutions to tackling it, most of which tackle the issue of distracted driving. According to a 2016 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 94%-96% of car accidents happen due to human error. Taking this into account, it seems that the best solution to solving this problem is to encourage safe driving and minimize distractions on the road.

As a young college student in the digital age, I have seen many of my peers impacted by distracted driving in some way, and even my own father, who was involved in a severe car accident due to the driver texting while driving, and hitting him at an intersection. Thankfully there were no fatalities or severe injuries, though this memory will continue to have a devastating impact on my father’s mental state, and likely the driver who hit him. This situation, along with many others, force me to think about how being distracted while driving for only a few seconds could have such disastrous consequences, and this alarm is only compounded by my own experience on the road.

Since I work two jobs that both require me to drive long distances, I find myself spending a good amount of my days driving, and, as a result, have had many close calls on the road that could have turned serious if I hadn’t been alert. This could range from a driver almost hitting me from the side as he/she tries to merge into my lane, failing to see my car was right next to theirs, or pulling up scarily close to a car in front of me when it suddenly stops. Though situations like these may be inevitable while driving, there are plenty more situations, all with grim consequences to accompany them, that could arise due to distracted driving. Considering this, I have carefully thought over habits of mine that lead me to be distracted, and thus less alert, while on the road.

I’ve noticed that one of the most prevalent ways I get distracted is when I am driving while talking with other people in the car, whether it be my parents or friends. I find this especially true when involved in a particularly engaging conversation, where I get too excited to talk about a certain topic with someone and lose my focus, either on the road or my GPS. Even though finding a solution to this distraction is difficult, because of how I love to communicate with friends and family while going out, it is not impossible, as I have figured out ways to help me to focus on driving while also communicating with others. A similar problem to this, where my attention is drawn away from the road in order to change music on my phone or look at directions on the GPS, also may pose a significant problem since it distracts me while driving. However, this situation is easier to fix since I am more in control of the circumstances, and will also have steps taken to correct as I work towards distraction-free driving.

The first step to correcting these issues is to read through the directions given from the GPS carefully before setting out towards our destination, as this will help me to be more aware of the directions we need to take throughout the trip, allowing me to share some of my attention with my friends/family while minimizing distraction from GPS notifications. Alongside this step is preparing a queue of music on my phone, so that I will have all my music already prepared, helping me to dedicate my focus towards safe driving, and away from changing music. The next step is to ensure that I keep this focus on the road while driving, which could be done through changing conversation topic or slowing down the conversation to ensure that safe and cautious driving is my main priority, which would minimize distractions from talking with others, or using the Voice Navigation feature to receive notifications on what directions to take, so that I will not have to keep switching my attention from the road to my phone. One final step to ensure safe driving is to keep track of any close calls I may have had on the road, and to learn what led to these and how to avoid them, in order to steer clear of getting into a similar or even worse situation.

Many people around my age find themselves in similar situations to mine, and may use similar strategies to mine to minimiz distractions while on the road, and focus on safe driving. However, many people may not be aware of how harmful these distractions, and the many more they may have, can be while driving, and how quickly they could lead to a severe accident. This is why driver’s education courses should address common distractions drivers at any age may encounter on the road, and efficient solutions to these problems.