Be A Hero, Save Lives

“Distracted driving is dangerous, claiming 3,142 lives in 2019 alone, nearly a 10% increase from 2018.” (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) This is a horrifying statistic when you consider that the number of lives claimed from distracted driving is still on the rise today and many of the individuals involved in these accidents are young people. In my own life I’ve been in the car with people who blatantly disregarded safe driving practices. Most of the time they don’t even realize that what they’re doing could seriously endanger them and everyone else in the car. 

“I just need to change the song real quick”

“I’m not even that high right now”

“Chill, I just got to send a quick text back”

These are all responses I’ve heard from friends. They always say it’s fine until it’s not, recently I was involved in a car accident as a result of my friend’s distracted driving. There were four of us in the car. It was late at night and my friend was going to drive us home. Which sounds fine aside from the fact that my friend who was driving was high, he began to back up when someone in the car said, “wait that’s my car”. Suddenly the glass from the back windshield was all over my friend and I who were sitting in the back seat. Luckily no one was injured but the back of the car was seriously damaged. I can’t say that if my friend was sober that this would have never happened, but it would have significantly reduced the chances of it. For instance, being high on marijuana “can impair coordination, distort perception, and … reduce the ability to make decisions.” (CDC) This could have led to my friend not seeing the car parked behind him and not responding fast enough to my friend warning that her car was there. 

Action needs to be taken to reduce distracted driving whether it be from driving under the influence, using the phone while driving, reckless driving, etc.. Many states require teens to complete some form of a safe driving course to receive their driver’s permit and or license. Where I live, teens are required to complete Joshua’s Law and receive an ADAP certificate. These requirements taught me a lot about the rules of the road and how to be a safer driver. Which is why I was shocked to find that currently 18 states have no safe driving education requirements for teen drivers. To prevent teens from engaging in dangerous driving it’s crucial for them to receive safe driving education. Furthermore, Drivers Education should be reimplemented into the high school, curriculum as a required course. Many teenagers today aren’t aware of safe driving practices, especially when it comes to phone usage. Regardless of the fact that “1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving”. (Edgar Synder Personal Injury Law Firm) Which is why it’s crucial for teens to be required to learn about safe phone usage during school. Online driving courses are not exhaustive enough and are set up in a way that teens can easily skip or cheat their way through the courses.  This is detrimental as it permits young teens to be on the road without any real knowledge of safe driving practices. Moreover teens who drive without any drivers education are “24 percent more likely to be involved in a fatal or injury accident.”(Office of University Communications of Nebraska)

What I’ve personally done to be a safer driver is remove all distractions before I even start driving. I like to turn my phone on silent, select a music playlist (so I won’t have to go on my phone to constantly change songs), and usually have some kind of snack so I won’t be tempted to eat while I’m driving. This helps me remain focused on the road the entire time. Whenever I’m with my friends I encourage them to do the same. Furthermore, I always volunteer to drive if my friends are under the influence of drugs.

Aside from implementing driver’s education I think it would be helpful to provide rewards to safe drivers. For instance, teen drivers who complete a year of driving without getting into any accidents or receiving any tickets should be rewarded in some way. So that they’ll feel incentivized to continue driving safely. Also, if someone is to get a ticket for distracted driving, I believe they should have to take a week long course on how to prevent distracted driving in the future. Overall, I think we need to emphasize educating young drivers on how to protect themselves and others while on the road by practicing safe driving. Furthermore, if drivers are to get into an accident or get a ticket it is crucial that instead of just punishing them, we should teach them how to do better in the future. And finally, we should reward safe drivers for keeping roads safer for others.