One Text, One Crash, One Life: A Teen’s Lesson on Distracted Driving

I. Introduction

Every day in the U.S., eight families receive a call that completely shatters their world; their teen has died in a car crash (CDC,2020). Eight may seem like a small number, but hundreds more are injured; many of these incidents lead to lifelong disabilities. Teen driver safety is a major public issue due to inexperience, distractions, and driving under the influence. While teen driving fatalities are a leading cause of death, proven strategies like education, awareness, and policy changes can prevent these horrific tragedies.

II. How to Overcome the Biggest Challenges Teen Drivers Face

To understand how to prevent these incidents, we must begin by examining the biggest risks teens face behind the wheel. In this technology-driven society, it has become normalized to always keep your personal devices with you, whether that be a cellphone, tablet, or laptop. With parents giving their children these devices at such young ages, those children grow to be dependent on these devices, needing constant entertainment and instantaneous satisfaction. This consistent need for entertainment does not stop once teens get behind the wheel. It is common to see a video on TikTok or Instagram of influencers driving while making content on their phone. Due to teens being so easily influenced, they’re comfortable in following suit, texting and driving, calling/facetiming and driving, and more. NHTSA reports that texting while driving makes a crash twenty-three times more likely (NHTSA, 2019). Beyond technological distractions, another major threat teens face while driving is peer pressure. Examples of peer pressure are: Friends trying to show them a funny video or pressuring them to drive well above the speed limit. Distracted driving delays reaction time as much as a 0.08 BAC (legally drunk in most states) (NHTSA, 2019). These challenges, paired with the general lack of driving experience, are what cause those fatal crashes.

To combat these dangerous driving hazards, parents: set strict phone rules. On almost every cellular device, there is a driving-mode setting. This setting will hide tempting notifications from all applications and silence their phone from all incoming calls. The setting also alerts those trying to contact them that they’re currently unavailable and will respond once the destination is reached. This eliminates all distractions from their phones. Parents: continue driving lessons even after your teen passes the Driver’s License Exam. Many states have lenient requirements for passing the driver’s exam, but don’t let the low standards required by the state convince you that your teen is capable of driving responsibly. Teens: Speak up when friends drive distracted or recklessly, be the friend that encourages and influences safe driving habits. Teens desperately need to understand how serious and dangerous distracted driving can be; one mistake can cost them their lives, the lives of potential passengers in their vehicle, and the lives of innocent bystanders. These strategies alone will greatly lessen their chance of causing vehicle crashes.

III. My Personal Wake-Up Call

After receiving my Driver’s license at the age of sixteen, I had fallen victim to all the same challenges teens today face when driving. Constantly receiving messages from friends and family members, endless social media notifications, and peer pressure from my teammates to drive at unsafe speeds to get to practice on time. My wake-up call was during a mid-year assembly that each grade level was required to attend. My high school invited the parents of teens who lost their lives on the road. I remember a couple talking about their daughter as memories of her were projected on the overhead screen. We had so much in common; we played the same sport, had similar hobbies, and shared similar ambitious life goals. But then, a horrific image of the aftermath of the car incident appeared, and the eerie silence that fell upon an auditorium filled with 200 students was almost palpable. That image of a crushed blue Hyundai forever remains in my memory. On the way home with two of her friends, she drove twenty miles over the speed limit, without a seatbelt, and was intoxicated. She had swerved off the road and crashed into a tree. She and the friend in the front seat were launched through the windshield, while the friend in the back seat was left unconscious in the vehicle. Unfortunately, the vehicle caught fire and there were no survivors. I remember looking to my left and seeing my friends’ eyes filled with tears. That day I promised myself that I would be better for myself, my friends, and my family. Seeing the couple on stage struggle to look at the photos of their daughter made me realize the impact my driving habits will have years down the line.

IV. Ways The Community Can Promote Safe Driving Habits

Hosting awareness events and inviting guests who can share a first-hand experience of what it’s like to survive a crash and the life-lasting physical, mental, and emotional effects that linger long afterward can get teens out of the “it can’t happen to me” mindset. Educating the community on the total impact of unsafe driving habits can lower the rates of distracted driving. This strategy, combined with performing crash simulations to show first-hand what it looks like behind the wheel when experiencing a crash, can put into perspective how dangerous a vehicle can be. Another effective strategy is advocating for the strengthening of driver’s education programs. This will instantly improve teens’ driving experience, allowing them to be more skillful and increase reaction speed when unexpected conditions cause drivers to lose control of the vehicle (i.e., rain, sleet, hail, snow, and fog).

V. Conclusion

By enforcing these few strategies and increasing awareness about the dangers of distracted driving, thousands of lives each year could be saved. This is an urgent call to action for teens, parents, communities, and policymakers to enforce safe driving habits. What will it take for you to make a change? How many more headlines must you see? How will you make sure your teens’ impact on this world is more than just a statistic? Next time you pick up your phone, think: is a text worth a life? Together, let’s turn these statistics into stories of survival.