Dangers of Distracted Driving

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it can be easy to forget the implications of driving a 2-tonne amalgamation of steel, plastic, and rubber. However, as a recent graduate of the drivers’ education program, the fear of a car crash is heavy on my mind any time I step foot in a vehicle, whether it be as a driver or passenger. In my opinion, the most daunting aspect of driving is not making a mistake, but rather looking out and accommodating for distracted drivers.

Personally, I know that I can trust myself to drive without picking up my phone. However, with the growing technological dependence seen in every aspect of our lives, distracted driving with cell phones is only becoming more common. I often witness other drivers driving under the speed limit or swerving within their lane, only to catch up and realize the culprit is a cell phone in their hand. Many drivers seem to believe they are the exception to the rule, that they can multitask better, that an accident cannot happen to them because they are careful. Unfortunately, both my parents fall under this category, and it concerns me every day. What’s so horrifying to me is knowing they could pick up their phone on the drive to practice one day and I could lose one of my parents and both my siblings in the blink of an eye, all because whatever was on that screen couldn’t wait. Even with years of driving experience, it’s impossible to predict other road events outside of their control. Living in a rural town, a deer could run out in front of the car and they could swerve into a ditch because they didn’t see it in time. Maybe another driver is also on their phone assuming they’re ‘careful enough’, neither of them see one another, and the cars collide. The list of possible disasters that could ensue from phone use on the road is, unfortunately, endless. The irony of this mindset shows best when my parents put the phone down while driving and happen to see another driver on their phone, in which they immediately begin berating that driver to one another as though they aren’t equally guilty. As their daughter, I find this especially scary because it tells me that they really do believe they’re invincible to the dangers that plague other distracted drivers and that they’re better than other drivers while making the exact same life-risking mistakes. To top it all off, they can’t be bothered to alter this behavior even with their young children, my siblings, in the car. It puts me in a very difficult situation as their daughter where I don’t want to seem like I’m questioning them or going against what they say, but I also don’t want to lose my family. In my opinion, cell phone use is more dangerous than driving intoxicated because it is so normalized within our society and everyone who does it genuinely believes they won’t get hurt in doing so.

The best way to cut back on driving accidents as a result of cell phone use is to help all drivers understand that they are not, and never will be, the exception. Paying attention to anything but the road while driving exponentially increases the risk of a collision, and this risk is only increased when the driver is using their phone for a prolonged period behind the wheel. The longer a driver can “safely” use their phone without incident, the more careless they will be. People seem to carry this idea that once they’ve succeeded at evading accidents for a period of time, they’ve proven that distracted driving provides no risk to them. However, this could not be farther from the truth. Being able to drive distracted without an incident is purely based on the luck of not being threatened by extenuating factors. These factors do not discriminate and do not care how long you’ve been driving, because they’re random. Years of driving cannot adequately prepare you to avoid a drunk driver going the wrong way while you check Facebook. Years of driving cannot prepare you for the person on your left trying to merge into your lane without using their blinker while you email your boss. They cannot prepare you for the motorcyclist you can’t see because it’s getting dark and you’re too focused on squinting to read text on your screen.

One of the key points taught in any driver’s education program is that cell phone use and driving should never mix, and yet they do. As a society, what can we do to make a change? We need to work together to raise awareness on these issues. We need to have these difficult conversations with our parents and friends, because our options are that or the unthinkable. It’s easy to make these choices for yourself, but ultimately, the danger doesn’t go away until everybody on the road decides to put their cell phone down. It’s important to share stories of distracted driving and its consequences, hard as it may be, because that is the only way to truly help others understand the gravity of their decisions. That is how we make the roads safer; that is how we keep ourselves and our loved ones alive.