New Mobile Cinema?

Turn left. Turn Right. Go straight. I just followed along and was enjoying the freedom and power in my hands. Eventually, I got to an awkward intersection where I turned into the lot and parked the car. It was a good drive and everything was according to the book. Then I noticed where we arrived. It was a cemetery. My father and I got out of the car and visited my loved ones’ graves. A visit to the cemetery is always a visit that brings one back to reality.

Looking back, I doubt that the visit to the cemetery was a mere coincidence. I fully believe that my father purposefully directed me there during my first time behind the wheel. He wanted me to understand that any small mistake, whether it’s missing a simple turn signal, or responding to a quick text while driving can have fatal consequences. Hence, it is of crucial importance to teach people about the dangers of driving, not only its benefits.

When people do not know, they are more likely to do something dangerous. Take someone who has lost a family member because of negligent driving: they will typically be much more weary and careful whilst driving. Whereas, if you had someone new to driving and wanted to feel the speed, they would most likely drive a lot more recklessly. This is because they have not been exposed to the damage of reckless driving. Thus, we have to teach people about the casualties, fatalities, and destruction that such driving brings upon not only those involved but their families and communities as well. When people know the dangers, they will try to avoid them because it is a natural human instinct to avoid risk and survive. Hence, driver education can be rendered as one of the simplest, and earliest actions that can be taken to foster a more safe driving etiquette and will save a lot of lives.

Undoubtedly, driver education will play the most prominent role in instilling a safe driving habit into drivers, however, various other actions can be taken to have safer roads. A simple, yet unpopular tactic to combat negligent driving is to increase enforcement of traffic laws. This could include stricter traffic laws, more police on the streets, and even DUI checkpoints. This would be an effective strategy, but it may become redundant and unpopular quickly. One critical and overlooked aspect of safe driving is road infrastructure. I have heard several times from friends and family different complaints of how bad roads can be in certain areas and how road conditions have even caused accidents. You try to avoid a large pothole and veer to the side but hit a car on your side. This is directly caused by poor road infrastructure because if that pothole was not there, you would never try to avoid it, and never hit the other car. Now, we are in the 21st Century, and we have technologies that people of the past would regard as magic. If we implement more technology into our safe driving systems, we will have a more modern and efficient safety system and our roads will be safer. Even AI, in its infancy, can be applied to road safety through various methods for example, having AI-powered collision avoidance, improving traffic lights so they are more efficient and safer, and also weather analysis and road analysis that will tell you safe driving speeds based on road and weather conditions. AI is undisputedly the future, so using it to create safer roads and reduce driving-related fatalities is not baseless or out of the picture.

I take public transportation to get to school. When I sit on the high-up buses, I notice that a concerning number of people carelessly use their phones while driving. I have seen people, texting, calling, playing games, and even watching movies while driving. This distracted driving epidemic is growing because of modern practices. Specifically, the way we take in information —through short-form content—has destroyed the attention span of many people. As a result, they always have to have their phone on them and use it when they feel as though they are not doing anything important—such as driving.

Consequently, I believe there have to be stricter rules and policies regarding phone usage while driving. This can be accomplished through AI software that detects when you are driving and limits what can be done on the phone while driving. This may be unpopular among drivers but if it is saving lives, it is worth it. It is similar to a doctor giving a child a vaccine, the child does not know that the vaccine is for their health and well-being, but they don’t want the vaccine because of the immediate pain of the needle. A stricter phone policy while driving is one that I can guarantee will save lives.