Every Reason to be Overly Cautious

Sarra Guggemos

Every Reason to be Overly Cautious

While taking a math test, oftentimes there may be distractions that can cause mistakes to be made. Distractions from sleep deprivation, a phone notification, and timed tests can cause the student to be careless with their decisions. The same applies to driving, whether it is your phone as a distraction, you are late and speeding off to school, or did not sleep much the night before, mistakes will be made. Although this time, it may not just be a little point off your math test as a consequence, you may instead find yourself in a life or death situation. There are many steps to be taken to guarantee you won’t find yourself there.

No one wants to be responsible for the injury or death of another person, especially if it is something that could have been easily avoided. There are many easy steps that can be taken to ensure that those mistakes do not happen. Distractions from phones may seem so small, as they will only take a second to take care of, but a second with eyes off the road can cause greater harm than drivers may realize. Many people know that a major cause of car accidents is texting while driving, which may be the easiest distraction to put out. Turning the phone off and putting it out of reach before entering the car eliminates the temptation of picking up the phone at all. Treating every drive like the driver’s test or like one of your parents is in the passenger seat makes for the most focused driving. No one would even think about picking up their phone during the drivers tests or with their parents watching over them for a silly snapchat notification.

There are even steps to be taken to reduce distractions from the passenger seat. The easiest and very first thing to be done is to make sure that the passengers are not the source of distraction. Making sure to be respectful of the driver’s space and needs ensures a safe drive. When a passenger sees their driver becoming distracted, they can always kindly give a reminder of how important it is to keep their eyes on the road. I once had an instructor in my driver’s education class tell me that it is better to be overly cautious for no reason, than to be careless for every reason. Reminding the driver of the reasons to be cautious will not be overlooked and will ensure safety for everyone on the road.

Even though distractions cause many accidents, they are also the easiest thing to eliminate. Making sure phones are tucked away so the vibrant light is not a distraction, guaranteeing that the passenger is not causing a distraction, and ensuring that the driver understands the importance of staying focused are just three ways to eliminate the many distractions on the road. Most of the time, nothing catastrophic may come from a distraction, but the key is remembering all the reasons to be overly cautious and all that could be lost for careless mistakes.