Distracted Driving Sucks

Distracted driving has reached an all-time high in recent years. As a person who’s been in two accidents, I am a part of a group of people who are distracted at the wheel. Some factors are smartphones and driving under the influence. A lot of people use their phones for music, directions or to be on phonecalls while driving. But using your phone for a fraction of a second can cause serious injury, driving intoxicated can either be life or death.

Mostly everyone completes driver’s ed before they get their license and I think it’s really important to learn. I took an online course and yes it was very boring and covered the most random topics, it taught me about some stuff I wouldn’t realize I would see on a daily basis. And afterward, with my behind-the-wheel classes, some people would scare me because of how fast they were going, weaving in between the lanes and tailgating. As a nervous driver, I was always cautious about my surroundings, but as I got older I became more comfortable, but also more reckless.

When I was a junior in high school I got into my first accident. I was on my way to my school’s basketball game when I got stuck in traffic. I was switching the volume on my radio when I thought I saw the car ahead of me scoot up, but he didn’t. I thought I pressed lightly on the gas but I pushed harder than I thought I did. Even though it was my fault, when I talked to the guy who I hit the first question he asked was, “Are you okay?” I was totally expecting him to yell at me and be pissed. I was surprised by that. I called my dad and we settled everything and he was being nice about it. And thankfully I didn’t damage his car. Unlike his car, my whole front bumper fell off. I still drove to my school but I didn’t want to drive for a while after that. Then in my senior year, I got into another one.

This accident happened when I was driving home from school. Traffic was really busy and the light I was going to turn had a lot of people and was a yielding yellow light. I wanted to go to the next light so I checked my shoulder and didn’t see any cars. So I started pulling out when I side-swiped a car that was in my blind spot. I met up with the lady and she refused to get out of her car. So I had to get all the information and bring it to her. She ended up calling the police. But when the officer showed up, she said everything was fine. Overall she was very unpleasant and I could tell that she wanted to leave. And when I got home, I cried.

The thing that adds to that is just humiliation. When my friends found out about my first accident, they took pictures of my car and made fun of me because my car didn’t have a bumper. Only my immediate family know about the second accident.

Driving under the influence is a very serious matter. If you can barely keep your eyes open, don’t even think about driving home. It is safer to get an Uber back than to risk your and other people’s lives if you drive intoxicated. My cousin’s husband was in the Army and got into a crash on the base. At this time he was only twenty. Thankfully he didn’t hit anyone, only a lamppost but still. The courts said he was driving under the influence but my cousin said it was the amnesia from his wisdom teeth removal a few days before. I don’t know about that but there is no excuse for being high or drunk to think you’re still capable of driving.

As for the smaller accidents that happen daily, there should be some sort of app that allows you to change the music without looking off the road or gives you directions that are easy to understand instead of looking on the map to see how many more lights you need to pass before you turn. And for cars being in their blind spot, I know a lot of newer cars have that feature but like my car, it’s older and doesn’t. It’s important to check not only behind you but next to you as well.

For the DUI accidents, I think breathalyzers are the way to go. I know you only get them in your car when you’ve had multiple DUIs but I like the idea. Maybe if there was a smaller more compact version of a breathalyzer, you could determine if people are competent or if you need to call them a ride home.

It is a terrible thing that people have died more in car accidents than U.S. soldiers dying in war. People have become too comfortable with their driving and are risking everyone’s lives around them. Driver’s education needs to change to a different perspective to help stop these deadly accidents from happening.