How to Combat Distracted Driver

Driving while distracted is the cause of many accidents and a good percentage of those accidents are fatal. Drivers have many distractions such as texting, talking on your phone, talking to others in the car, operating the radio and navigation system. These are all things that cause the driver to be distracted from being an alert and safe driver. Smart phones and technology in the car are a huge distractor. All it takes is a few seconds to check your phone, taking your eyes off the road and you can be in a collision. Unfortunately, young drivers are making videos while driving and posting them on social media. Driving requires your full attention. I believe there has to be a multipronged approach to tackle distracted driving and thus creating safer roads.

Driver education classes are where it all starts. My plan would include multiple lessons during driver education to address distracted driving. A movie would be shown to demonstrate the severity of distracted driving. I believe this movie should be shown several times throughout the driver education classroom portion. While driving, teens should also be required to switch their phones to driving mode, which doesn’t allow the phone to alert the driver, but does alert the caller the driver is driving.

Parents have to be held accountable as well. My mom had several conversations with me about distracted driving. In my state, I was required to complete 50 hours of driving with a licensed adult. My mom required me to turn my phone off and she silenced her phone as well. She helped me to create healthy habits to focus on learning to drive. Additionally, for the first 6 months after receiving my license, I wasn’t allowed to turn on the radio. My mom wanted to make sure I had a good handle on driving before I began listening to music while driving. My mom told me the most challenging part of driving is driving for the other cars on the road and my driver education instructor agreed with her. I need to anticipate what other cars around me are going to do and I need to be fully alert in order to react quickly to avoid an accident. I have seen my friends speed out of the student parking lot and that type of behavior can lead to an accident or worse, loss of life. I knew that if I broke the rules my mom had set for me, I could lose my driving privileges. I enjoyed having the ability to drive to school. Driving is a privilege, not a right. Now that I am in college, I still want access to the car when I come home. The same rules still apply.

Teen driving laws need to be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to address our ever changing society. Technology can be a gift and a curse. It’s a gift because technology has enhanced the way we communicate. It’s a curse because our society has become addicted to technology and a considerable amount of time is being spent online and on our phones. My plan would include hefty fines for teens who are texting and driving. For example, if the normal fine is $50, the fine would double to $100 for a teen texting while driving. In addition, their parents would be notified of this offense. By notifying the parents, I would hope the parents would take some disciplinary actions with their child. If there is a second offense, the teen’s driver’s license would be suspended, given a fine and required to take a driver education class. This class would highlight the dangers of distracted driving, showing actual accidents where distracted driving resulted in a fatality.

Finally, teens are driven by social media. I would create two social media campaigns utilizing Snapchat and Tik Tok. The first campaign would be testimonials from local parents who have lost children from distracted driving. The second would be a national campaign created with well known celebrities, both in the music and sports world to speak on the dangers of distracted driving.

In order to change the behavior of a teenager, you must connect with the teen and meet them where they are. Conquering the challenge of distracted driving has to be important to the teen to impact their behavior. My approach involves education, parental involvement, monetary fines, restrictions, real life stories and utilizing influencers. I believe these strategies would be successful in reducing distracted driving thus creating safer roads.