Just One Second

As I was driving in stop and go traffic, my phone slid forward on the center console and I couldn’t see the route on Google Maps. In just one second, I looked down to grab it. Traffic began to move. In just one second, traffic ahead of me came to a sudden stop and in just one second, I slammed hard on my brakes just one second too late. Although no one was hurt, my car was totaled and the car in front of me was damaged. In just one second, the ramifications of distracted driving were made immediately clear to me.

Through driver’s education, we can help prevent future drivers from finding out those ramifications firsthand. Driving is a privilege, but as a society, we have a responsibility to ensure that the individuals we license possess all the skills and knowledge necessary to operate a vehicle safely. Driver’s education and people teaching their kids and loved ones to drive can help by teaching the basic rules of the road, emphasizing the dangers of reckless and impaired driving, providing training in basic vehicle operation and handling, and promoting awareness of the importance of vehicle maintenance and safety.

According to a study conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, “young drivers who have not completed driver’s education are 75 percent more likely to get a traffic ticket, 24 percent more likely to be involved in a fatal or injury accident and 16 percent more likely to have an accident.” This is especially significant because teens ages 16-18 have the highest rates of crashes and fatality rates. During this exceptionally risky time when drivers are still learning, these kinds of reductions are extremely remarkable. We must be implementing these kinds of statistics into how we begin any young driver’s journey.

It is therefore notable to me that the biggest barrier in many places is the cost of driver’s education. Currently, 37 states require driver’s education, but it’s become increasingly rare to find a free option as schools have taken it out of their curriculums over the last 40 years according to Good Housekeeping. Many states offer an alternative to driver’s education – you instead have to spend more time in the car with an adult learning with your permit. This puts the burden on parents and trusted adults. But these adults don’t usually have special training or specially designed cars with brakes in the passenger seats. Maybe they have a bumper sticker declaring there’s a student driver. But that’s about it. This creates a disparity between those who can afford driver’s education and those who cannot. This discrepancy can mean that people from lower economic classes have less access to driver’s education courses, which then puts them at higher risks for car accidents in their young lives. I think that advocating for more access to driver’s education for everybody is an incredibly worthwhile way to make everyone safer on the road. But that’s not the only thing we need to be actively doing.

When I get behind the driver’s seat, I need to work on ways to be a less distracted driver. Whether it’s putting my phone in a hands free base so it doesn’t slide around or queuing up my audio and reviewing directions before I begin my trip, taking just a few minutes to prepare my space before I start the car could save my life or someone else’s.

The National Safety Council notes that phone use while driving is the cause of 1 in 4 accidents in the U.S. That’s 1.6 million car crashes per year. If we all promised to actually use our hands free systems for only phones and GPS, to put our actual phones in the glove box or center console while we drive, how many lives could we save? As it is, I’m going to install an app on my phone that forces me to not use it while I drive. There are several apps out there that will send automatic responses to text messages, only allow you to use audio and GPS that you began before you drive, and even a few that will pay you for every mile you drive without using your phone. By putting my phone in a hands free base, taking just one second to queue up my audio and GPS before I start my car, and keeping myself accountable with an app, I hope I can begin a journey towards distracted free driving and set an example for anyone driving in a car with me.

Whether it’s teens, young adults, or young at heart adults, we all have a responsibility to be safe on the road. Driver’s education is a great way to begin driving with knowledge and tools that help prevent costly tickets and accidents that cost things far more precious than money. By encouraging driver’s education within our own families and friends, advocating for it at local and state levels, as well as championing funding for driver’s education to make it accessible, we can help reduce teen and young adult deaths drastically. We can also lead by example within our own lives by following traffic laws and cutting down on distracted driving habits that we may have picked up since our own time learning to drive. I know that, for me, that one second of distracted driving before I hit the car in front of me will forever be a reminder of what I could have lost and what I must do to protect the lives of everyone on the road.