Stand Up to Distracted Driving

Distracted driving has become more and more of an issue as more cars include technology that utilizes screens in their consoles, as well as more drivers using their cell phones while they operate their vehicles. Sometimes, the distraction simply comes from a lack of attention on the road that can come from any number of sources. Although car accidents are more common these days for a multitude of reasons, distracted driving is definitely among the top factors in the increase of driving incidents. I have personally been affected by distracted driving, and conversely, I owe a lot of gratitude towards one specific attentive driver as well.
Last year, I was coming home from a school event around 9:45p.m., and I was in the left turn lane in the last major intersection before I reached my house. Most car accidents occur within a mile of your home, and this was one such case. The left turn lanes on opposite ends of the intersection got the green turn arrows, so I started to go, but one van in the straight lane on the opposite side of the road misjudged who the green was for and started going anyway. I ended up hitting the side of their vehicle in the middle of the intersection, and my entire bumper came off. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and it was all resolved with insurance out of court. I learned two valuable lessons from this situation: I never know what other drivers are going to do, and I need to be far more attentive when I drive in order to be as safe as possible. I was in the right in this situation because my arrow was green, but if I had waited a little longer before going, the accident may have been avoided entirely. Of course, if the other driver had been more attentive, then they would have realized that they did not have a green light, and nothing would have happened at all. This driver had a young child in the car at the time that we collided, and it is very scary to think what could have happened if the impact were more severe.
I have had an experience in a motor vehicle accident that resulted in a fatality and multiple injuries; I was on a school bus driving home from a competition many hours away from home, and it was late at night. An intoxicated driver hit the back right corner of the bus, resulting in his death and the passenger being put in critical condition. Many of the people riding on the bus with me suffered from muscle strains, severe concussions, and contusions. I was lucky enough to be uninjured, and I believe this is due to the expert handling of the crisis by our bus driver. He calmly and quickly slowed the bus, safely maneuvering us to the side of the road so as to minimize the damage to the vehicle and all of the students on it. If he had not been paying attention and reacted with panic, we may have been in even more danger. I am continuously grateful to this driver and his actions during this incident. Attentive driving saves lives.
A big step towards positive change in young drivers’ behavior can start in the classroom. I think one of the most effective methods of changing people’s behavior is education. When people are more knowledgeable about a subject, they can act accordingly, and make informed decisions that keep them as safe as possible. Coupled with education, positive reinforcement is a powerful tool for incentivizing preferred behavior. As a young driver myself, I remember taking driver’s education in my sophomore year of high school and not feeling very invested in it. I viewed it more as a requirement to get something I wanted rather than an opportunity to learn. Incentivizing true understanding of the importance of road safety is something that can be easily implemented regardless of curriculum material, and is a complementary piece of education to the technical knowledge that goes into driving. Students can complete projects about the statistics that are related to the dangers of intoxicated driving, using cell phones while driving, and other types of distracted driving that will show them how dangerous those actions can truly be. Understanding the repercussions of their actions will help contextualize the gravity of those situations, and hopefully steer them in the right direction.
Other possible avenues for raising awareness include advertising campaigns, family programs, and community outreach from groups dedicated to safe driving. Local television stations, especially those targeted towards teen and young adult audiences will indirectly benefit from promoting safe driving because it will increase community safety, ultimately driving up the economy of the area and making it a more desirable place to live. Education in the home is very influential on growing minds, and if parents can sit their young drivers down and talk to them about the importance of paying attention on the road, it can make a world of difference. This can be implemented as an outside-the-classroom extension of driver’s ed, as many parents teach their children to drive anyways. Finally, community outreach groups have many benefits. One idea to promote safe driving is to hold a car wash in support of car crash victims and their families; it involves drivers’ cars directly, while also helping fundraise for an important cause and making the supporters think about how their driving can affect others, or how others’ driving can affect them.

The key component of being a safe, attentive driver is empathy. Being aware of others and their actions, as well as how your actions could potentially affect them on the road is one of the most important things to practice because all safe driving stems from hypervigilance. I have personally experienced the difference between attentive and distracted driving, and they have both left me with very important lessons that I try to carry with me whenever I am behind the wheel. There are many ways to impress these lessons upon young people, and it all starts with raising awareness to create a safer world for everyone.