The Deadly Playlist

The
Deadly Playlist

As
teenagers, we are at an interesting stage in life where we have both
the time and able bodies to fully pursue that which we are curious
about, the only thing holding us back are money and the rules around
us dictating what we can and cannot do. Some of these rules of course
address the prerequisites to legally being able to drive. Once those
rules were met, the flood gates open and curiosity takes over,
driving me to test the limits of what I can do on the road. Being a
generation raised alongside the rise of technology, phones inevitably
made it into the car with me at some point. This led to my most
common distracted driving habit. Plainly put, I am a culprit of
distracted driving by checking, switching and even browsing through
songs. This creates scenarios where my eyes are off the road for an
average of 5 seconds just because the glare from the sun was blocking
my screen or because I needed to scroll to the bottom of a certain
playlist to play my favorite song. Five seconds is a long time while
driving, especially according to researchers from Oregon State
University who found that taking your eyes off of the road for just 2
seconds alone raises the chance for an accident by 2400%. This
research statistic and the recent loss of a good friend drove me to
change the way I conduct myself in a car. So, to give some context to
my solutions I will shed some light on how this habit came to be. For
starters, I am a fairly timid individual reluctant on most days to
fully express myself and this presents itself whenever I drive my
friends anywhere and am in charge of the music. As my music plays I
constantly second guess whether or not the song will be received
well, this leads to the browsing and searching of music while driving
around. The pressure I felt to be somewhat entertaining in the social
setting of driving around with friends lead me to act in a way that
put all of us in danger multiple times. My solution to this was
two-fold, first understanding what it means to be the driver and then
the creation of some playlists I am comfortable playing.
Understanding my role as the driver is a shift in mindset where I go
from being an entertainer to someone focused on the goal of getting
everyone safely to their destination. At first glance this seems like
common-sense but, my previous mindset saw driving as recreation, a
fun event that should not be taken too seriously. In conclusion,
distracted driving is a serious problem that I faced, endangering
myself and many others more than once. Seeing the possible
consequences of my actions led me to change. This change took form as
a renew mindset towards driving and preventative steps like creating
playlists beforehand that will not require my precious attention.