Finding Motivation to Change

Heidi Miller

Driver Education Initiative Award Annual Scholarship

“In the Driver’s Seat”

02 November 2020

Recently, my husband and I became all too familiar with the plague of distracted driving that grips our country. My husband, my 4-month old son and I were on a walk. We were so excited to be outside on a beautiful day. Little did we know that this delightful family memory would actually be seared into our brains by a brush with death. As we were crossing the street, a truck blazed past a stop sign, plowing through the intersection. This was in a crosswalk, in the middle of the day. I jumped up and down, waving my arms and screaming at the top of my lungs. I thought for sure if he saw us, he would’ve stopped. But, held captive by his phone, he didn’t even look up. He was oblivious to the fact that my whole family was right in front of him and he almost killed us. The cross with death ended with me sprinting across the street, barely missing the truck, and my husband yanking the stroller back to save our son. With such a simple solution, how can we motivate people to change their driving habits?

People can’t solve or work towards problems they don’t know about or don’t understand the depth of. That’s why education is vital in reducing the number of deaths on American roads. If there are over 34,000 deaths each year due to distracted driving, how many families, like mine, have suffered from something so common?

Imagine if each affected family shared their experience and spoke out against it. I think people would be motivated to change. At least, I hope people would feel inspired to do better. Although making people aware of the situation doesn’t solve the problem all together, there are still steps we can take to encourage drivers to change their habits.

Some steps, to name a few, are enforcing “hands free” driving laws and establishing such laws in all 50 states, using settings on phones designed to limit notifications or access to apps while driving, and presenting informative material to schools and workplaces. Each of these would be a positive step in the right direction.

However, the greatest thing I can do to help reduce the deaths on American roads is to make changes myself and hope to help others. Whenever I’m behind the wheel, I vow to have my phone off or in ‘driving mode.’ When I’m a passenger, I can help the driver by staying alert, looking up directions, and handling communication with others until we reach our destination.

Statistically speaking, driving has become more dangerous than walking onto a battlefield. This is unacceptable. Human lives are more important than your snapchat. By taking responsibility, changing our habits, helping others become more aware, and supporting “hands free” laws and technology we can save lives, make our communities safer, and win the war over distracted driving.