Be Forceful with Your Driver

Be Forceful with Your Driver

Hannah Smith

Be forceful with your driver. In today’s day and age, technology makes it even easier to be unsafe while driving. Most people keep their phones directly next to them, opening up the possibility of distraction. Whether it’s a social media notification, changing the music, or receiving a text message, the first instinct is to reach down and check. Check like the message will not be there by the time you arrive at your destination. Check immediately, as the world depends on it. This mindset has been a large part of the increase in motor vehicle accidents, which is something that is completely preventable. Specific states in the United States have passed laws that ban someone from even touching a cell phone while driving. In Georgia, a first conviction is a fine of $50.00 with one point deducted from the drivers license, with the fines and points increasing with additional convictions. Legislation like Georgia’s is a state’s opportunity to be forceful with its drivers. Be forceful with your driver, and remind them to put the phone away. Being a teenager myself, I have first-hand experience with technology interfering with a driver. Mainly with my friends, I have noticed a pattern of “quickly” changing songs or replying on Snapchat which has lead to some close calls with possible fender benders or even being run off the road. As a passenger, I am trying to make a point of asking the driver to set their phone down, and even offering to complete the task for the driver. If enough students were taught that it’s acceptable to ask a driver to get off the phone, I truly believe that the number of motor vehicle crashes would be reduced. Students need to understand that it is not “uncool” to ask someone to put their phone down, it’s actually respectable. And if the driver is annoyed with you, they’ll eventually thank you later for protecting those in the vehicle and those around you. A great way to educate young people about the dangers of cell phones while driving is simply presenting the information through other people’s stories. For example, a teenage girl was texting while driving and was asked casually to stop several times by her passengers. She refused, and drove through a red light, crashing into a man and his ten-year-old daughter. She was found guilty of two counts of homicide and injured herself and her passengers. Had the passengers in that car been forceful with the driver about not texting, the family could be alive today. If they had been persistent and offered to finish a text for her, the accident could have been avoided. Stories like this need to be published everywhere so drivers can truly understand the dangers of texting while driving. Be forceful with your driver and remind them to put their phone away, and you could save someone’s life.