A Text Message May Cost a Life

Growing up in Atlanta, I would always hear several adults complaining about the “Alyssa’s Law,” better known as the “Hands-Free Law.” I remember being a child when the law first passed, and I heard so many parents, teachers, and others lament about the inconvenience of not being able to text or use Google while driving. My twelve-year-old self did not understand the motivations behind the law, however, as I grew older and began driving myself, I firmly believe that Alyssa’s Law needs to be further strengthened.

Texting and driving cost me my car. When I initially turned sixteen, I was ecstatic – I couldn’t wait to get my license. With a drivers’ license comes a plethora of newfound freedoms and places to explore. However, after March 21, 2024, my cherished freedom ceased to exist.

While driving in the furthest left lane on my one-mile drive home from school on a Thursday afternoon, a car filled with highschoolers suddenly made an illegal left turn, and I t-boned them. Airbags deployed, paramedics came, and tow-trucks dragged our totaled cars away. I’ll never forget how I had to stand on the side of the road for two hours, violently trembling and blinking back tears, because none of my family was able to come and help me. When the police officer asked those boys why they did not see the enormous “no left turn” sign, he responded with “I was trying to change the song.” When the officer asked if he was on his cell phone, or using hands-free, he replied “cell-phone.”

Cell phone use while driving has grown to be a significant problem in recent years. Over one-third of Americans admitted to using their phone while driving, and hundreds of people die every year (Forbes). However, I believe that what needs to be addressed is the rise of CarPlay and other Infotainment systems.

Car entertainment systems have been becoming more and more prevalent in cars today. Instead of going on their phone, many people simply lean over and change songs, call people, change directions, or even text back from their car screen. People are distracted just as much, if not more, by leaning over and focusing on navigating the interface. While checking a phone may take a few seconds, sometimes it can take up to a minute to figure out where certain functions are located on that screen. That little screen in modern cars is essentially a legal cell phone, and it makes no sense in my mind how using your phone is illegal but doing the same functions on that car screen is allowed.

One method to fix this issue would be to force car manufacturers to disable the infotainment screens while driving. Ford is one of the few companies who does not allow drivers to use the screen while the car is in motion. By locking the screen while the car is driving, nobody, even the passenger, can access the functions, which allows the driver’s only focus to be driving. While riding in Ubers, I have noticed that drivers who drive a car with this feature drive more safely and are noticeably more focused on the road. By requiring automobile manufacturers to disable entertainment screens while the car is driving, coupled with hands-free laws, the lethal issue of cell phone usage while driving will be limited and hopefully eliminated. Far too many people get injured or die from phone-usage-related collisions, and it is time to make the streets safer for everyone.

March 21, 2024 has forever changed my life. For four months straight I suffered chronic headaches, and the force from the airbags even damaged a nerve in my eye, resulting in a temporary month-long lazy eye. I had to go several months without a car while I waited for his insurance to process everything. To this day, I still get anxiety driving down that section of Spalding Drive, and I refuse to check my phone or use the infotainment system so that I will not be involved in another accident. The immense physical, emotional, and financial costs could have all been avoided had one singular person stayed off their phone for another twenty minutes. Texting and driving, even navigating the infotainment while driving, is an enormous distraction that can change, or even end, people’s lives in an instant. It’s up to both legislators and the people to initiate change to end the epidemic killing so many people each year.