Let’s Prevent

Brooke
Cornett

Let’s
Prevent

I’ve
heard it. The sound of screeching tires, the clash of metal, the
shattering of windows, the cries of the victims. I’ve seen it, the
debris scattered across the road, the tears of a grieving mother, the
blood, the horror. Nobody should ever have to witness these horrific
scenes, nobody should ever have to be involved. All of this can be
prevented with proper education.

With
all of the distractions these days, driving can be extremely
dangerous. Texting and driving is no laughing matter. People have
become obsessed with their phones. According to Edgar Snyder &
Associates, 660,000 people are attempting to use their phones while
driving at any time during the day. The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration said that 3,166 lives were lost due to
distracted driving in 2017. Everyone has seen the commercials,
everyone has been told not to text and drive, yet it still happens
every day, and accidents keep occurring. What can we do to combat
this? More commercials? More seminars visiting schools? More sad
stories? I believe the answer is actually technology.

People
have become more aware of the dangers of distracted driving
practices, and with that awareness comes change, so now it’s time
to take action. A great way to prevent distracted driving, is to get
an app to help. There are many apps that help to stop those people
who just can’t help themselves whenever they receive a
notification. With all these different apps comes many different
choices with different levels of control. LifeSaver is an app that
parents and teenagers can use to prevent texting and driving. Parents
can lock up the phone once their teen is driving. AT&T DriveMode
is another fantastic app. The app will silence any incoming texts or
calls while someone is driving. It also provides a way to safely
respond to any calls or texts using voice controls. It also allows
the driver to have control over their music with voice controls. The
app is also automatically activated once the driver starts driving at
certain speeds, for those who forget to launch the app before
driving. There are many more apps that are available to prevent
texting and driving, and each one can be a little different. Some
even come with rewards for safe driving, such as SafeDrive. SafeDrive
gives the driver points for time spent not texting or calling while
driving, to spend for discounts at participating stores.

With
so many available resources to stop distracted driving, why does it
still keep happening? The problem is that many people do not know
about these apps. Now that people have been educated about the
dangers, they have to be educated about prevention. In order to
successfully prevent distracted driving, people must work together to
spread the word about these safe driving apps. It is time to take
action, let’s prevent!