Driver’s Awareness

Driver Education Initiative 2024: In the Driver’s Seat

Safe driving is becoming more of a challenge for our society than it has ever been.  As a teacher and mom, I have seen changes through the years, with the acquisition of cell phones becoming the most recent and ultimate distraction of our era.  I first became aware of this danger after viewing the powerful Will Smith movie Seven Pounds.  The amount of time it takes to change one’s life and the lives of others is a minute amount.  The cost is never worth the text or call that was sent or received.

A 2016 report by Gliklich et all stated that in one month’s time, 60 percent of American drivers read or sent a text message or viewed a phone map while driving.  The thought of these drivers was most likely that they were able to simultaneously attend to the road while using the device.  Through selective attention, our consciousness can focus on only one thing at a time.  According to Just et al, 2008, when a driver attends to a conversation, activity in brain areas vital to driving decreases an average of 37 percent. According to the CDC, distracted driving kills about 9 Americans each day, and AAA conducted one video cam study of teen drivers in 2015, finding that driver distraction from passengers or phones occurred right before 58 percent of their crashes.

Alcohol slows activity of the sympathetic nervous system.  As blood-alcohol levels rise and judgment falls by the wayside, people lose their inhibitions about drinking and driving.  When drunk, people are unaware of their state of drunkenness, according to Moore et al, in 2016.  In experiments, virtually all drinkers who had insisted when sober that they would not drive under the influence later decided to drive home from a bar, even if given a Breathalyzer test and told they were intoxicated (Denton and Krebs, 1990; MacDonald et al., 1995) 

As a young expectant mother driving to work many years ago, I remember clearly the experience of my car being hit by another car at a four-way stop that had just recently been converted from a two-way stop intersection in the small town where we lived.  I had just dropped off my 2-year-old daughter at the sitter’s house, and was headed to teach school.  I remember approaching the stop and wondering if the driver of the approaching car was aware of the change.   After stopping myself, I slowly eased out into the intersection and felt the impact of the other car on the back left portion of my vehicle. My fears of his unawareness of the new traffic pattern became reality. The speed limit was only around 35 miles per hour, as I recall, so the impact was not as severe as it could have been, but it was still very memorable. 

My first prayer on that day was one of gratitude, because my baby girl was not in the back seat, as her car seat had released and come forward between my driver’s seat and passenger seat, and she most likely would have been injured had she still been with me in the car.  As I pulled over to the side, a friend was passing by headed to work.  This was 31 years ago, before the time when we all carried cell phones, so my friend told me he would stay with my car and wait for the police while I drove his truck up to his house and called my husband.  I was calm and cool until the policeman arrived, noted my condition, and advised me to go call my doctor immediately since I was currently 6 months pregnant.  It was at that point that anxiety overtook me, as I began to consider that my unborn baby might be in jeopardy.  I went to my friend’s house and his wife, who was a nurse, helped me remain calm and call my husband and my obstetrician.  After spending the day in a hospital bed on a monitor, everything worked out fine, but I was awakened to the fact that if such a slow impact could do so much damage, imagine what a collision at high speeds would do.  

This situation opened my eyes to the realization that things happen so fast, even though I thought I was prepared for what could have happened.  Most of the accidents that occur come from an instant that is not expected.

Awareness and education are the biggest factors that contribute to driver safety.  If students could be put safely into simulated collision situations, I believe this would help heighten awareness and encourage more cautious behavior.  I have seen in the life of my own adult son that he seems to feel he is capable of being in control if he is texting while driving, though I would take measures including taking away his phone if he still lived in my home until his opinion changed to a more safety- oriented attitude.   Too often, people seem to have this attitude that they are capable of handling multiple situations, when realistically that is just not the case.  

Steps I take personally include using hands-free communication and talk-texting when I am driving.  I would love to be a difference-maker for others to understand the importance of safe and non-distracted driving practices.