The Dangers of Distracted Driving: Preventable Accidents

It is a phone call no one wants, your loved one has been in an accident. Maybe they are okay, and need a ride home from the scene. Maybe they are injured, but safe at the hospital. But maybe the accident was fatal, you have lost your loved one. You will never recover from this loss. My parents remind me daily about safe driving, distracted driving, and drunk driving, lest I forget the lessons learned from driver’s education, and the inherent risk of being a driver.

I have heard of many young adults having been in preventable types of motor vehicle accidents, involving phone use. It seems like a disproportionate number, but perhaps that is because I live in the smallest state, Rhode Island, where everyone is connected somehow. The first time I can recall hearing of phone use causing a fatal accident, I was in kindergarten, and a former student of my mom’s, only in her twenties, was killed when her vehicle struck a guardrail and flipped onto its roof. Rumors were that a text message was being typed at the instant of the impact. The message never reached its recipient.

Following this tragedy, I have seen with increasing frequency the number of drivers using their phone while operating their vehicle. The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. Responding to a text message seems to be the most risky type of phone use while driving. Assuming responding to a text takes five seconds, and you are traveling at a speed of 55 mph, you have just driven the length of a football field without paying attention (“Texting and Driving Accident Statistics – Distracted Driving (Updated 2022).” Edgarsnyder.Com).

After getting my license a year and half ago, I know that I become distracted while driving in three ways; physically, cognitively, or visually. If I am physically distracted, something is preventing me from controlling my vehicle. This may happen if I am driving with my two dogs in the backseat, and I reach back to tend to them. If I become cognitively distracted while driving, it means my mind is preoccupied with other things, such as a calculus test at school, or a permission slip I forgot to get signed. I can be visually distracted simply by turning my head to look at my GPS app, glancing over to speak to a passenger, or looking down to adjust my heat. These are all normal occurrences, and it goes without saying that I control and limit these types of actions. But, the most risky situation involves being distracted physically, cognitively, or visually all at the same time. This is what occurs when drivers are reading and responding to text messages while driving, even if they have a “hands-free” device.

The statistics in Rhode Island are stark. According to the RI Department of Motor Vehicles, one-third of Rhode Islanders admit to texting while driving, while two-thirds admit to having handheld calls while driving.

It is estimated that 25% of accidents are caused by specifically texting, making texting while driving six times more risky than driving under the influence of alcohol.(Stefanac, Meg. “Your Guide to Rhode Island’s Distracted Driving Laws.” TrustedChoice.Com)

Rhode Island has strict phone laws, and handheld phone use while driving has been illegal since 2018. Drivers under age 18 are not permitted to use phones at all, even if they are on a hands-free device. New drivers lack experience, and therefore would have slower reaction times to driving events. Coupled with phone distractions, teen drivers are at higher risk of accidents. One everyday example of this is that there are about 330 students in my class, most of whom drive to school, arriving throughout the morning. At 2:00 PM, everyone is rushing to leave at once, and many students are using phones after being in school all day. The only time I had a problem was when my track practice got canceled once this fall, and I left school along with the masses during a rainstorm. On this day, my parents got the phone call; I had been rear-ended by another student exiting the school. I was uninjured.

There are concrete ways that officials can combat phone use while driving, such as simply confiscating a driver’s phone, pending payment of the fine. I have never heard of this happening to drivers, but it happens to high school students who use their phones during school hours, and it does cut back on phone use. During driving lessons, students’ phones cannot even be out, they must be stored out of sight during the lesson. Imagine if this was a state law, and it was actually enforced and adhered to! It would be such a simple rule, but with many people being so attached to their devices, “phone addiction”, how could it be put into place? Even though each state has laws involving phone use while driving, I feel it is mainly the driver’s responsibility to keep themselves and their passengers safe. Observational evidence indicates that many drivers are at least looking at their phones while driving, if not actually holding them. So many people are distracted! I have developed my own methods to keep myself  safe while driving. I tend to not trust other drivers to be aware of me, so I keep extra distance from other cars whenever possible. This can be accomplished by lowering my speed (yes, I may drive like a little granny), increasing the distance between myself and other vehicles, (this can give me more time to react if another driver has an event), and planning my trips in advance so I am aware of directions and road conditions, without relying solely on my phone’s GPS app. These are ways I can be safer, even while distracted driving occurs all around us.