Misuse of Technology

Driver Education Initiative Award

By: Vivianna Cowan

Driving instruction is essential and should be implemented more strictly. Kids who become the age of sixteen consider the act of driving too loosely and with little to no caution. This lack of a firm grasp on the wheel has led to the consequence of most car accidents resulting from distracted driving. It can be correlated along with the increasing rate of innovation that has drastically taken our world to unimaginable heights. Technology has weaved its way into our daily lives which can be considered a blessing and a curse. Some would argue that we have upgraded our technology to the point of great dependency on it. Knowing this, it is extremely important to take responsibility for the use and handling of technology. A common misuse is found in car accidents. Distracted driving, due to the easy accessibility of smartphones, is the leading cause of most car accidents. This is such an avoidable consequence, yet it is one of the main causes of accidents. So the question is how do we fix this? It begins with personal responsibility. If there is a long car ride ahead, plan out everything beforehand. This can include setting up a GPS route before leaving, creating a playlist and pressing shuffle, or putting the phone on do not disturb mode. There is no reason to be handling the phone while driving, it is simply asking for an accident to happen. Luckily, new innovative car technology is allowing smartphone functions to be built into the car. It makes directions and phone calls a hands-free experience which has improved many lives. This is a step in the right direction but does not eliminate the biggest threat, which is the smartphone. If there are emergency purposes to use the smartphone, it is best to drive safely towards the side of the road for use. Removing the possibility of risk will lower the chances of a car crash at a phenomenal rate. It is never worth the risk of putting the life of anyone in the car in danger because of a buzz from a smartphone. I have witnessed it with my own eyes and is quite a bit of an embarrassing story. It occurred when the release of the Pokemon Go mobile app was extremely popular. During this time I heard about the silly stories of people playing the Pokemon Go game in thier cars and driving around town to catch Pokemon. I had good laugh until a friend offered me a ride home along with a few other friends. I was behind the drivers seat while this occurred and we were just all chatting around and listening to music. We were heading towards a red stop light and I noticed my friend who was driving wasn’t slowing down. I eventually yelled out but it had already been too late. She had rearended the car infront of us and got stuck on the bumper. When she backed up, the car’s bumper came off and we were all silently in shock. She started crying because she was so scared of what her parents would do to her because of this incident. A couple weeks past and I had thought that it was our talking and loud music that distracted her from the road, which should have be kept to minimal. It wasn’t until she told me in private that she used this excuse to avoid getting in trouble by her parents. What really happened was that her phone gave a Pokemon Go notification saying that they are near by and she checked it while driving along with talking to us. It was an eye opening experience because of it gave me the realization of how glued we are to our devices. It’s sad because this is a common story among many young drivers and it is utterly irresponsible. With this I had the idea that phones should have a lock mode within a certain distance from the wheel, specifically the drivers seat. If there’s a way to upgrade our cars and phone’s to sync to minimize the use of any devices, that is the best solution.