Uber for Brooklyn Hastings

The Biggest Challenges Teen Drivers Face Today — and How We Can Overcome Them

Living and growing up in the digital age, teenagers are faced with peer pressures, lack of experience and the deadliest distractions able to fit in their own pockets, carried from place to place. Teenagers, ironically, have a greater chance of safety by riding with complete strangers, in situations such as Uber, than they do driving by themselves or riding with friends. The statement may seem dramatic and extreme but in comparison, teenage drivers are more likely to be involved in crashes than they do with driving services such as Ubers. This mainly stems from the fact that teenagers are more easily distracted than drivers, often involving being on their digital device, or engaging with a passenger during the drive. Teen Driver safety does not only revolve around the individual–while it is a common issue when it comes to driving, the difference between life and death for many people, does not fall onto just following the rules of the road, but silencing all the distractions that are within the car. From my personal experience I have rode with friends who had often insisted on the perfect songs being played while driving. Although I love listening to a good tune while riding– the outcome would be the same each time; mid drive, she picked up her phone not to skip the song, but to scroll through an endless playlist to choose a song that would barely last 4 minutes of our ride. Even looking briefly at notifications, many people believe a quick glance at their phone for a second won’t be as great of an effect. Although even in a blink you could miss something going on in the road, eventually putting yourself and others in danger. Those quick glances off the road can become a devastatingly crucial factor between making it to a person’s destination, or making it alive at all.

Juxtaposingly, if I were to have no ride at all, and I had to rely on a complete stranger, an Uber specifically, to pick me up and get me home safely– the driver would not be worried about irrelevant things, such as music, playlist, or why their phone decided to ping them. The driver’s focus is on the road, occasionally checking their GPS, but it is still in the intention of getting their passenger to their destination in the most secure way possible. The comparison is bewildering to think that I, as a teen, may be more safe in the back of an adult’s car that I have no relation to, than a close friend of mine who should value my safety as well as theirs. The reality is that it is not 100% our fault. Many adults who partake in these driving services lived in an age, where phones may have not been as easily accessible, let alone distracting for when they drove people around. Teenagers’ lives, on the other hand, practically revolve around their cell phone; always on social media, in contact with friends and family, even listening to music. These factors once becoming so looped into a person’s daily life, being a cycle of distraction, causes a dopamine rush. This makes it addicting and hard to steer their attention away from their phones after being so reliant on it. It can become tempting to know who sent the notification, or if that certain someone is finally reaching out. To teens, all these things feel so important to look at in the present, but it will become a danger and make the future shorter for themselves or another person. Just one quick second of looking away is deadly.

With this distraction in the car, there’s a high confidence and certainty teens feel being on the road and being on their phones; often feeling justified believing they are safely driving. After their process of learning the rules of the road and officially being able to drive with many others, teens can feel that they have everything figured out. Often, they trust themselves too much, allowing time to look at their phone when driving, while joking around, having more risky behavior being with friends, which can become both pressuring and reckless. They have this belief that they are experts as everyone else who drove before them, and that they are immune to accidents– seeing accidents to only happen to those who make obvious mistakes like speeding, road rage, and even drunk driving. The reality is that it only takes 1 person to cause an accident, and its effect is not limited to the 1 person who caused it. Even the most responsible person can make a minor mistake that can cause a destructive butterfly effect. It should not be normalized to assume that everyone around will drive responsibly, while your safety is not guaranteed; so there should be no reason to challenge your responsibility in your own vehicle.

Driver’s education will be a turning point to how the issue is handled. They need to expand past knowing road signs, and the basic stopping and going. There needs to be lessons incorporated that handle digital distractions, and how to drive safely with a phone. Students should be taught how to utilize “Do Not Disturb” modes, set up music before the car is in motion, and how to resist the urge of multitasking when by themselves and with others. Parents are also not excluded from their teaching. Many parents of student drivers can practice not using their phone when they drive around themselves, erasing the illusion that it is possible, but also not safe to use a device while driving. This can implement more safety habits for everyone, showing how to focus, take responsibility, be disciplined, and more importantly be safe, not risking anyone else’s life. The more we step away from conforming to the digital age and revolving our lives and attention around it, especially when driving– the more we can turn the road into a less deadly environment. Try to think like Uber drivers, when driving on the road; the goal it to safely get their passenger to their destination. That passenger may be you, however unlike an uber driver, driving recklessly will not just risk getting a one star rating, but it will risk us losing our one life and we can’t make up for it.