Bang! In the Driver’s Seat Scholarship Essay

BANG!

Oh my God! Nicole! Is she okay? She’s okay. Thank God. She’s okay. How could I have let this happen?

I just crashed the car with my little sister in it. I’m her big sister, I’m supposed to protect her. I could’ve killed her. How could I be so stupid? How could I have let this happen? My tears wouldn’t stop flowing as all these thoughts raced through my mind.

We were very lucky that day. It was a huge wake up call for me. We get our licenses as teenagers, and we think it means that we’re good drivers. We’re not; it just means we didn’t make any mistakes during a short road test. We aren’t experienced, though; our reaction time is slower, and our judgment is often questionable. Through the driver’s education process, we’re nervous and cautious as beginners, and certainly when we take our road test, but for some reason, passing our road test makes us think we’re proficient and have learned all we need to know. Our license is our coveted ticket to freedom, and that ticket makes us think we’re invincible. We forget we are new on the road; we’ve gotten our perceived seal of approval. Along with our license often comes overconfidence, speeding, and a casual attitude towards safe driving habits.That’s why adding distractions to the mix can have tragic consequences.

My accident is a perfect example of how simple distractions can cause accidents. I’d already had my license for six months. I wasn’t speeding. I wasn’t texting. However, the radio was blasting, and we were loudly singing along to, ironically, Taylor Swift’s “Getaway Car” as we turned off of a major road. As I turned, my phone holder, which was attached to the vent, fell off and it must’ve hit the windshield wiper controller. I looked down and reached to grab the phone holder, afraid it would roll under the pedal and potentially cause an accident. As I looked up again, I was confused by the wipers furiously swaying, got flustered, and slammed into a parked car on my sister’s side.

When my mom got there, I heard her say to my father, ”Okay, the car is bad, but we’re blessed. Both of the girls are walking away from this. Some parents aren’t this lucky. This could have ended differently. We get to take our girls home today.” In that horrible moment, I realized that I could never allow this to happen again.

Texting, talking on the phone, eating, adjusting the radio and blasting music are all distractions that take your attention away from the road and put you and others in danger. They say texting while driving can make a crash 23 times more likely to happen. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for five seconds, and at 55 miles per hour, that’s like driving the length of a football field with your eyes shut. That’s very unsettling because 45% of people admit to texting and driving. That’s just the people who admit to it; the real number is probably much higher, especially among teen drivers.

I think people probably started texting and driving many years ago, when they made it illegal to talk on the phone and drive, back before they had hands-free bluetooth capabilities. Texting was a way to not get a ticket. Unfortunately, we are a texting generation, and the habit has stuck with us, despite cars having hands-free ways to talk on the phone. Still, talking on a handheld or even a hands-free device undeniably takes the driver’s attention away from the road and impairs their ability to react quickly. Eating, drinking and fussing with hair or makeup are also really common distractions. The visual, cognitive and manual attention required to do these things means the driver isn’t giving full attention to the road.

We need to find a way to reduce and eliminate distracted driving. And I truly believe that education and awareness are the key. Especially among teenagers, we need to find a way to have even more programs and PSAs, especially on the social media platforms that we use most, like Tik Tok, Snap and Instagram. We have school assemblies, and we all know that these are things we shouldn’t do, but teenagers mostly just do it anyway. Americans know they should eat right and exercise, but we don’t all do it. It’s the same with distracted driving. No one thinks something bad will happen to them, but sadly, some only learn this lesson from a tragedy.

Social media can be a strong ally, especially if we can get celebrities and influencers in on the campaign to help educate and raise awareness. People need to hear stories from real families whose lives have been impacted, as well.

Additionally, we should harness the power of technology. All smart phones should be made to have the “Do Not Disturb While Driving” feature that can prevent calls and notifications from coming through while driving. Car manufacturers should be required to have CarPlay or something similar as a standard feature that comes on all cars. This technology can be voice activated so that no one needs to handle a phone to take a call or be tempted to text by hand.

Driver’s Education courses should have more driving time behind the wheel. A lot of people don’t follow through on the number of practice hours, probably because their parents are scared to go with us with no brake on their side. Private driving lessons are very expensive, and not everyone has the financial means to take lessons. Group driver’s education classes at school often have three or four kids in the car taking turns, so each student is only getting maybe fifteen minutes of driving time during each session. It really doesn’t add up to a lot. Maybe there should be less lecture time and more practical driving time, or the classes should just require more sessions overall.

Finally, while it would be an unpopular opinion with my friends, I think it’s necessary to enforce violations more strictly. If you’re caught texting while driving more than a certain number of times, especially during some kind of probationary period for new drivers, maybe they would need to retake their road test. Nothing scares a new driver more than having their fate being determined by their ability to parallel park!

Distracted driving has reached epidemic proportions. I was hesitant to share my story in this essay, but stories need to be told. I have a vital responsibility to keep myself and others safe on the road. I take this responsibility much more seriously now, doing everything I can to eliminate distractions. I’m alert and focused on the road. I threw out the phone holder; my phone’s put away. The radio isn’t as loud. I’m trying to set a better example for my sister, who will be a new driver in a few years. Hopefully, between now and then, we can, as a society, come together to educate people, modify phones and vehicles, enact legislation and ultimately save lives by eliminating distracted driving once and for all.