Do You Text and Drive?

Let’s be honest, how many of us actually paid attention to each and every video and page we had to cover during Joshua’s Law? Yeah, the online (or in-person) class that took 30 long hours to complete. I can be almost certain that the majority of the population that can legally drive did, in fact, not watch those videos. While it may have seemed like unnecessary busywork at the time, those videos that we were supposed to watch are very, very important. Each video had its own purpose. For example, one video might have gone over the street signs and their meanings, another might have gone over what each type of line on the road means, and one video might have explained what the right of way is. Looking back now, do you think that you would pass a pop quiz about all of the rules and signs?

Being an educated driver reduces the percentage of both crashes and driving ticketing. Specifically, becoming an educated driver helps reduce the number of crashes by 4.3% and the number of driving tickets by 40%. While it may not seem like much, 4.3% can make a big difference. A single wrong move on the road can result in a fatal car crash. Another very common cause for car crashes is texting while driving. Every person takes their eyes off the road to look at their phone, whether it’s to respond to a text or to simply check social media. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I have done this numerous times. I can confirm that when I take my eyes off the road and look down, my hand automatically steers the wheel to the left or the right slightly.

Now imagine that a driver was looking down at their phone for maybe ten seconds. “Oh it’s just ten seconds; nothing serious can happen in that amount of time.” Wrong. In ten seconds, something could go horribly wrong. An animal, person, or another car could stop right in front of the car. Or the stop light could turn red and that person would not have enough time to stop, causing them to run the light and put themselves and others in danger. What if they had taken too long to realize and by the time they did it was too late? On top of having a damaged, or even undrivable, car, they would have the guilt of hurting an innocent person because of their recklessness. Instead of texting while driving, set aside time either before or after driving to check messages and social media. Even if it seems stupid or time consuming, it is better to take more time to get to a destination than to not make it to the destination at all.

Of course this is all preventable. The very first step is actually paying attention when taking Joshua’s Law. It is so much more important than it seems to be. The following steps all go hand in hand. Making sure you are alert and prepared to drive before even stepping foot in the car is so simple, but very needed. An obvious one: making sure that your eyes are on the road, not spacing away or not looking down at your phone. This one isn’t talked about as much, but keeping your temper while driving. Unnecessary road rage creates more problems than it solves. So if another driver suddenly cuts you off or appears in front of your car, don’t make an extraneous effort to get back at them. Simply honk the horn to let them know they made a mistake and move on. Doing that prevents those extreme road rage situations that always go viral on social media.

On the road, driving safely should always be the number one focus for each and every driver, no matter how experienced they are. Speeding, texting, recklessly switching lanes, swerving between cars, and ignoring road signs should all be obvious “don’t do’s.” Is it even a question why the majority of the states in the United States are hands-free? Cell phones are one of the bigger reasons why people get hurt or killed while driving. Several accidents and tickets can be avoided by simply just knowing all of the road rules and paying attention to the road. Take the necessary precautions to ensure that each trip on the road will be to the intended destination and not to the emergency room. It’s a given, but it is better to be safe than sorry.