How we can become better

In theory, the sound you get when you get a text is a perfect one. It gets your attention and is recognizable by all. The only problem is, the sound does its job a little too well. We’ve all had it before. We’re driving on what seems to be a deserted road when your phone goes off. “Ting!” Your mind starts racing with possibilities. Does my mom need something? Is it one of my friends? Could it maybe be that one girl/boy I’ve been talking to? Just one sound is enough to throw us off our concentration of controlling a machine capable of killing. And it all seems so innocuous. Just one second. Just one text. Just changing the song. Having your phone on you is probably the most common way people get distracted behind the wheel. I know it is for me. I go through the same process I talked about above. I need to see who texted me and what it’s about. So how does one go about fixing this very common yet dangerous practice? Firstly, you have to be conscious of what you’re doing at all times. If you’re driving and you’re close to your destination, it makes no sense to risk checking your phone two minutes before you stop. And if there are others in the car, they can check for you. All of these other options don’t occur when you don’t think about what you’re doing. I know I pick up my phone unconsciously when I hear it go off. This leads to another way of protecting yourself, making sure you don’t hear your phone. Keeping your phone on silent or vibrate is a huge factor that often goes overlooked. It also helps to leave your phone face down or just so you can’t see the screen. Not being able to see/hear the text or notification goes a long way to protecting yourself. Most of these steps are to protect yourself from the biggest challenge we face behind the wheel, staying off the phone, yet there are also other challenges that people don’t think about. For me, it’s my music and friends. There have been multiple moments when I’m driving and I don’t notice an emergency vehicle coming towards us because my music is louder than the sirens. This is not only dangerous for me but the vehicles around me. If I don’t stop, the drivers behind me won’t either, which puts all of us in danger. I’ve been working at fixing this problem by keeping my music at a lower volume to be more aware of my surroundings and protect my ears from damage. I’ve seen this same problem of too loud music primarily in teens and could be very fatal. Music also hinders us because, to change the music, at least in my car, I need to take a hand off the wheel and sometimes pick up my phone. This problem, however, is already being addressed by car companies themselves. They’re implementing newer technologies to keep our hands on the wheel when changing the music, keeping all of us safer. Moving onto another distraction that plagues the teens of today, are their friends. Having friends in the car has a definite impact on our driving. I am an example of this. Usually, I either go the speed limit or just above if I’m in a rush. However, with friends, I’m always speeding or at one point, ticketed for going 21 mph over the speed limit on the interstate. That experience of getting pulled over and realizing what I did was eye-opening. I knew I would never have done that if I didn’t have three friends in the car with me. As part of the appeal on my ticket, I had to meet with the officer that issued the ticket. What he told me has stuck with me and stays in my mind whenever I’m driving my friends around. He told me that he’s held too many dying teens in his arms, who were just trying to impress their friends and ended up crashing in the process. The way I went about fixing my behavior with friends was again, being conscious about my actions. I asked myself, would I do this by myself, and how dangerous is what I’m doing? Is it worth not only my life but my friends’ lives too? Education in driver safety is probably the most surefire way to create a safer road for everyone. If everyone was more conscious of their choices and actions, as taught in driver’s education, then I’m positive the number of deaths caused by reckless driving would plummet. The importance of drivers education should not be minimized and we as a society could become much safer if we all thought more about our actions. The dangers behind the wheel are real and growing problems in our society that need to be addressed. I’ve started on my journey to fixing these habits and I hope that I can teach my friends and others to do the same.