Driving is a Privilege – Not a Right

Distracted driving from a myriad of external factors has become a serious issue across the country as the prevalence of said factors increases. I have car anxiety and do not even have a vehicle of my own today, partially because I have been in so many car accidents from reckless drivers in my own family. When everyone thinks of distracted drivers, someone on their cell phone often comes to mind. My grandfather was not completely irresponsible behind the wheel, but he was an easily distracted driver – often turning his head to point out billboards or things he was noticing on the side of the road, as opposed to actually watching the road. Since this was my main form of transportation as a child, I was often put in dangerous situations on the road. As a result, I find this issue to be very personal to me.

The fact of the matter is that every year, the fatalities from accidents caused by these inattentive drivers are rising. 9 people die every day from impaired driving, which translates to about 3,000 people every year. (Christy Bieber, 2023) As I alluded to above, these amusements range from cell phones, to music, to the actual scenery or architecture itself surrounding the road. The CDC makes very clear that there are 3 types of distractions: visual, manual, and cognitive. Visual is taking your eyes off the road, manual is taking your hands off the wheel, and cognitive is taking your mind off driving.

The truth is: “…motorists can drive the equivalent of an entire football field blind if they take their eyes off the road for just five seconds when they are traveling at 55 mph.” (Christy Bieber, 2023) I think the magnitude of that needs to sink in for some people, and realize that when they get behind the wheel they are truly operating a potentially deadly piece of machinery. This problem needs to be met with an urgency that I do not often see when parents are handing over the keys to their teenager’s first car.

Not only have I been affected by being in many accidents caused by distracted driving individually, but in 1994 my family’s life was changed permanently when my grandaunt’s grandson was in an accident where a car hit him and took his life. His name was Benny Deaver Jr., and he was just a 13-year-old kid waiting at a busy intersection to cross the road. Due to some very unfortunate circumstances from the pedestrian being the distracted party, and he and his accompanying friend rough housing by the side of a busy road, he was struck after falling into traffic while the driver had no time to react. By the time he was rushed to aid, it was too late, and Benny Jr. was laid to rest. This was 4 years before I was born, but even as I was growing up the impact was obvious, and my Granny made a point to share his story with me along with the dangers of being distracted, in a vehicle or not, on/by the road.

The CDC explains that in 2019, 20% of people who died in distracted driving car crashes were actually pedestrians that were otherwise outside of a vehicle. (Distracted driving 2022) Benny was a person, and though he shouldn’t have been playing by the side of the road in the first place, he is not just a horrible statistic. If you ask the people that knew him, they intimate he was loving, funny, smart, and most of all – a young boy worthy of life. A small amount of information being shared with either of those boys walking to the store may have saved Benny’s life.

Raising awareness and relaying the importance of the issue to parents to teach their newly driving teens, allowing for the foundation of good driving habits to be laid early on, and stopping the problem at the source is where we need to start tackling this matter. According to the CDC website speaking on distracted driving, the highest percentage of drivers that were distracted when in an auto accident were aged 15-20 years old. (Distracted driving 2022) In Bieber’s article, it’s revealed that 44% of distracted driving auto accidents including a teenager resulted in a teenage fatality (15-19 years old). These are serious tragedies that could have easily been prevented and have cut the lives of so many people short unnecessarily.

We have the evidence provided by the CDC website to prove that word of mouth alone helps to get the point across. In the last decade, law enforcement has not only enacted laws banning cell phone use and texting while driving but has also implemented high-visibility enforcement (HVE) tactics that have increased awareness through radio advertisements and similar news sources. Each state that they measured the cell phone use while driving before and after the HVE project showed a notable decrease in distraction by at least 1.5% – some almost as high as 4%!

Realizing knowledge is power in this situation is fundamental in creating a battle plan against this challenge. No matter what, the bottom line is many don’t seem to comprehend the magnitude of driving around a large, dangerous device. Driving is a privilege that has certain minimum requirements, like your full attention, to be allowed to carry out. Having that much power is something that should be respected, and the way to change the lackadaisical attitude the public has taken on the subject is something that is rooted in the poor instruction given early on to young people. They carry that nonchalant attitude with them as they grow, creating the adults we have today who are okay with risking traveling 100 yards with their eyes essentially closed. Through the laws that states are enforcing to discourage phone use while driving coupled with raising awareness and really driving the point home with repeated campaigns reminding divers to stay focused, I believe we can make a considerable decrease in the number of accidents, and overall deaths as a result.