Left, right, left

Left, right, left. Constantly craning my neck backwards time and time again to keep myself safe. Intersection through intersection, day after day. Fearing the time where I fail to look back and get gravely injured because of it. Or worse, imagining getting hit in spite of the defensive driving techniques that I put into practice.

I have had my driver’s license for almost two years now, and I have already gained so much confidence in my abilities. There is something about driving on my own that reinforces the capabilities that I know I possess. I was very proud that I passed my license test since I had been practicing and working so hard, and my family was very proud of me, as well. The freedom that being able to make impromptu trips to a coffee shop or pick up my books at the library has been very liberating and invigorating. Now I have the option to drive to school, or take the odorous yellow eyesore full of miasmas offensive to the nose, also known as the school bus. Alas, as Voltaire aptly put it, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Texting and driving. What could be called a plague on today’s youth, but luckily not one I am privy to. Although I occasionally get the urge to check if I have any notifications on my phone, whether from real friends or social media ones, I am able to ignore them for the greater good of everybody, myself included. This is a split second decision that could cause devastating repercussions, for myself and others around me. For this reason, I always leave my phone on silent while driving so I don’t succumb to the decade-old urge as other phone-owners before me have.

Fortunately, helpful robotic aides like Siri, and other types of hands-free technology, make it possible to safely drive and use technology at the same time. All one has to do is say “Hey Siri,” and they can ask the robot to perform a myriad of tasks, ranging from texting someone to looking up the latest sports news. While these hands-free options do not involve someone taking their hands off the wheel and the road, it does focus their attention on something other then the task at hand; driving. Thus, hands-free technology is a useful tool, but only if it is used wisely.

One distracted driving habit I do succumb to, though, is placing too much focus on changing the radio station; clicking the button to replace a bad song with a good one. When it all comes down to it, the quality and favorability of songs could cost me my life, and that is one risk I am not willing to take. Because of this, I am making a concerted effort to put an end to this unsafe behavior by choosing one radio station to listen to, and not changing it while I am driving. Being happy with what I have in the moment and not jeopardizing all my accomplishments, as it were.