Two-Ton Weapon

I
was twelve years old when my brother got his driving permit and from
then on, my parents almost always referred to cars as two-ton death
machines, and they are right to call them that. Sometimes, even small
mistakes can cause death and destruction beyond belief. When drivers
are educated about how to be safe on the road, mistakes that cause
fiery twenty car pile-ups or simple dings from the parking lot of the
grocery store can easily be avoided.

Every
time I’m on the highway with my family driving to my grandparent’s
house, we pass by so many billboards advocating for safe driving,
they would be hard to count. The most common themes are wearing a
seatbelt and telling drivers not to text and drive. Even though these
billboards seem to represent two different eras of driver’s safety,
they both contain a message that should never be ignored. Education
about traffic safety starts with drivers ed classes when people
are still children. If lessons are not reinforced, they can easily be
forgotten when your phone pings or you have a sore shoulder from
baseball.

Even
then, the messages about distracted driving do not seem to impact
people. Almost every time I’m in the car, my family members or
friends attach their phones to the dashboard. About half the time,
they put in the address and turn on the audio for directions or put
their favorite driving playlist on shuffle and leave it be. The other
half of the time, I’m afraid that an accident is right around the
corner. Even quickly glancing down to see where the blue path goes or
what song is playing next puts a driver in danger of a serious
accident, especially when a person is in an unfamiliar area. If they
are paying close attention to the directions on their screen, they
almost certainly are.

Distracted,
dangerous driving can be limited when drivers are educated on the
possible risks and simple ways to avoid their phones. Although it may
sound morbid, car manufacturers and technology companies generally
prefer if their paying customers remain alive, so there are many
excellent features drivers can take advantage of. There are do not
disturb settings where an automatic response will be sent, informing
the people that are trying to contact you that you are driving. Also,
many newer cars have Bluetooth audio that can be connected to your
phone to provide both hand and eye free navigation.

Even
though it might seem old fashioned, being reminded that it is an
option to look at a map before you leave, in addition to other
education about distracted driving, will certainly reduce the amount
of traffic-related deaths in the United States. If the ads about
wearing seatbelts worked on those who grew up in the 70s and tumbled
around in the back seats as children, I’m confident educating
drivers about restrictions that will keep them safe will impact
people positively in 2019 and beyond.