The Detriments of Distractions

Madelyn
Eischer

The Detriments of Distractions

While
driving is a stress-free task for most, without the proper training
and knowledge, a simple drive can result in something life-altering.
Countless studies have shown that drivers ed reduces the
likelihood of getting into accidents; with drivers ed, you
not only learn how to physically drive a car, but you learn to
understand rules of the road including signs, signals and how to
react to different spontaneous situations like bad weather, which are
all paramount to one’s success as a driver. While learning these
things may seem trivial, you never know when your knowledge could
save someone’s life.

In
today’s age of technology and instant gratification through social
media, one of the biggest factors in fatal car crashes is distracted
driving. While there are currently some features on our devices that
discourage using phones or other distractions while driving, society
must focus on educating future drivers about the horrific effects
that distracted driving can have. A lot of teenagers and young
drivers have a belief that they are immune to these sorts of
accidents, so it is important to show them how easy it is to forever
ruin someone’s life through reckless driving. My old high school
had a program where they reenacted real distracted driving scenarios
with students, faculty, and real emergency responders. This program
made the potential for fatal accidents a reality and I would advocate
for enacting programs like this all over the country.

I
am lucky enough to only have been involved in a few minor car
accidents in my life, but even the simple fender benders I have been
in have been caused by distracted driving. When I lived in Texas, my
family and I were stopped at a backup on the highway. With no
warning, a car rammed into ours from behind, causing us to lurch
forward and ram into the car in front of us. Thankfully, no one in
any of the vehicles was severely hurt, but there was major damage on
our car and a few bruises all around. We quickly found out that the
driver who hit us was staring down at her phone in her lap and wasn’t
paying attention. Luckily the collision had been at very low speed,
but someone could have been seriously injured if the distracted
driver had been going any faster.

One
thing that I always try to do before I drive is to make sure that
distractions are out of the way. I plug my phone in and pick my music
or plug in the location I need directions to, but then I put my phone
in a place where I cannot easily reach it. This way I am not tempted
by a phone vibration or wanting to shuffle through my playlist to
find a new song. The most important thing that I have realized, and I
hope others realize too, is that responding to a text or a Snapchat
is completely insignificant when up against saving your own or
someone else’s life.