How I can contribute to making the roads safer

How I can contribute to making the roads safer

by Reece MacEwan

This is a very real and fresh topic for me; I was recently in a car accident. Whilst no one was hurt, thank goodness, and it wasn’t my fault, it was a huge learning curve for me. I realize now that you can never be too careful on the roads. The accident that I experienced was in a parking lot – the woman who crashed into me did not indicate when she turned, and she was talking on her phone and not paying attention. Her actions and the resulting accident have taught me that I cannot be responsible for or control other people’s actions and need to be extra cautious and expect that people may do erratic things on the road. Keeping a safe following distance, driving within the speed limit and being super alert are non-negotiable. There are many distractions that can steal my attention from the road. I haven’t got this perfect yet, but I am trying to become less and less distracted on the roads. Here are my thoughts on the topic.

Everyone has a different attention span and has a brain that in theory, can multitask. However, one should never multitask when driving. There are so many ways to distract yourself from focusing on driving, but only in the last decade or so have we had to worry about people being distracted by cellphones or other devices while driving.

Technology has become so important in the lives of people in today’s day and age. Many people can’t go a minute without looking at their phones. Now pair that with something as complicated and technical as driving safely, that is not a good combination. As said in the description of the essay, the first step to changing a bad habit is realizing that it is harmful and then trying to figure out a way to end that habit. When I first started driving, I would not go on my phone at all, barley have any music playing because I wanted to be focused on the road and my surroundings, just like drivers Ed had taught me. But as soon as I became comfortable with driving and knew my car better, I started to occasionally look at my phone and play music pretty loud, not realizing I was distracting myself every time I would change a song or sing to it, or every time my phone got a notification, I would look down at it. It’s almost like it became a Pavlovian response, I felt like I had to look at my phone, as if that message I just received was more important than me driving well and making to my destination safely.

Although my phone usage, in terms of texting and driving, has gone down, I am still guilty of playing my music extremely loud, not realizing that it is subconsciously distracting my brain from focusing solely on the road. Leaving my phone on the passenger seat and turning it on DO NOT DISTURB mode has helped me to rather ignore my phone when driving. In terms of me playing music, I still do that, but I am more aware of noise control and this may sound odd but, I have started to play music without lyrics, so that I am not distracted by the words of the song, but still get to enjoy the car ride.

Being a healthy young man, a pretty girl walking along the road may cause my eye to wander from the road (I am writing this with a smile). However, I am consciously aware of this potential distraction and make sure not to let it happen.

A fun fact about me that I spent many years of my life in South Africa; I originally learned to drive there. Why I am telling you this is, that it was very different to driving here. In South Africa, one can only get their license when they are 18 years old, everyone drives on the left hand side of the road, the driver sits on the right in the car, everyone needs to take their driving test in a manual or stick-shift car, and parallel parking and highway driving form part of the driving test. The driving test process is a lot more stringent there, however, drinking is also legal at age 18 which does not seem wise.

The more time I spend on the road and the more I witness in terms of other people’s behavior, and my own, the more I realize that there are so many potential hazards and so many reasons why people get distracted and endanger themselves and others. I also know I still have a lot to learn and should not take any advice from my parents or other older people of influence in my life for granted.