At fifteen….

Gabrielle Williams

At fifteen, I sat
with little patience, waiting for my Drivers ed class to
end. My fingers fell into a rhythm of tapping on the notebook I had
once again failed to take notes in. At fifteen, I was ignorant, using
the videos of deadly accidents as a source of entertainment rather
than education. The images flooded my mind as a scare tactic, rather
than the harsh reality that I’ve come to know today. At eighteen, I
haven’t seen one of my friends around in a while. He unwillingly
abandoned the time we all spend together due to the loss of his best
friend, who was killed in an accident. He is unable to cope with the
loss and has isolated himself. At eighteen, I was driving myself to a
friends house, only to pass the highschool of the same young man who
died. My heart ached as I saw the class rock was now in honor of him,
and friends and family covered the grass the boulder laid upon. At
eighteen, almost every person I am close to drives, my boyfriend, my
friends, my family. This thought lit a fear inside of me that makes
its way to the forefront of my mind every time someone I love steps
behind the wheel. At fifteen, it is hard to hard to comprehend the
idea of your little sister leaving the house and never coming home
because she was hit by an irresponsible driver. Or even your best
friend meeting you at the mall, but they never show up because they
were texting you and didn’t see the light was red. Now the question
is how do you make teens, and even adults, understand the importance
of driving responsibly without first facing tragedy, when it’s too
late? It seems nearly impossible. Technology can do unbelievable
things, but I believe advancements in automobiles have been centered
too much around entertainment, show, and convenience, rather that
safety features. Features claimed to be for “safety” are often
only a distraction to drivers. For example and from personal
experience, I drive a car that has Apple CarPlay. A feature that is
supposed to reduce the use of cell phones and distractions while
driving. Personally, I have never felt more distracted while driving
than I do while using CarPlay. It places a large screen right in
front of you, where texts and calls pop up, and suddenly you are
intrigued and unable to avoid answering. the next thing you know you
rear ended someone because you were not looking at the road. I
believe the resolution to distracted driving is the simplification of
the entertainment system and better “real” safety features.