Two Letters, Lifetime Impact

“Ok.” One word. Two letters. A simple iMessage sent to my mother in half a second. A typically mundane word, insignificant even. A routine text message with absolutely earth-shattering consequences.

After my phone made a sound indicating the text was sent, I heard an almost earth-shattering sound. A huge bang, a loud crunch, car honks, and the sound of 80’s music playing loudly on the radio all at once. My head and body jerked forward, being only restrained by the seatbelt. I don’t quite remember the exact thoughts that ran through my head at that moment, but I do remember it felt like a dream. Like when something so surreal occurs it feels almost improbable. In what felt like a lifetime (but realistically was only a few seconds), I realized that I had slammed into the car in front of me and caused a significant accident. Due to that half second of looking at my phone, I managed to change the trajectory of my entire life.

It is an understatement to say that I was lucky. The front of my car was heavily damaged as well as the back-end of the car I hit, but no was injured. I had a minor headache and body aches from the collision, but that is minor compared to what could have been. I shudder to think what would have happened had I been going 80mph in the fast lane compared to 35mph on a suburban road. My car ended up being towed and the cost of the repairs were worth more than the car, therefore I ended up loosing that car. All of this is incredibly secondary though, as what truly mattered and stuck with me was how my irresponsibility could have lead to death.

Had I known at the time the risks of texting and driving? Absolutely. Did it matter to my 16-year-old self? Absolutely not. It was certainly briefed upon on drivers education classes, but it did particularly strike a chord. I was young and in my mind invincible, certainly sending a quick text wouldn’t hurt anybody or anything. My experience has changed my entire viewpoint, though. I believe it is absolutely necessary for a significant portion of texting and driving risks to be incorporated into beginner drivers education classes. There should be an entire four hour class within program dedicated to the risks, especially given Generation Z’s attachment to their cell phones and their perceived invincibility. I believe the laws and regulations regarding texting and driving should be integrated within the written state drivers licenses exam. Drivers should be familiar with risks associated with texting and driving and should know the consequences. I also think that during the driving portion of the exam, if the student is utilizing their phone at any point it should be an automatic fail. I think written laws should also reflect the potential severity of the crime. In the state where I live, Ohio, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to utilize their phone when driving. Penalties include a 60-day license suspension and $150 fine for a first offense. If you commit the offense for a second time, your license is suspended for a year and the fine is $300. The latter is the penalty I received, but I believe the fine should be higher and I believe a distracted driving class should be mandated. In Ohio, the rules are more relaxed for anyone over the age of 18, if a police officer deems that a person was distracted while driving, they could receive either an $100 fine or take a distracted driver course. The catch is that this texting and driving is a secondary offense, which means a police officer cannot pull you over just for that. This is something I believe should fundamentally change. The more leeway are given, the more lax the population will be around said rule. An officer should be able to pull someone over and cite them for distracted driving as well as give the appropriate penalties. While I certainly agree that penalties should be heftier for underage drivers, severity should not be too much less for adult drivers. I also believe that Silicon Valley should start integrating more “driving modes” into various platforms, as a lot of them have already done. A lot of software companies and apps have such modes. Apple is a major one for example, as well as the music app Anghami. These apps/software are able to sense when you are in a moving vehicle and have the option to pause outgoing texts and calls to reduce distracted driving. I think this is a great step to combatting distracted driving, as not all accidents are related to texting-they can be anything from changing a song to scrolling on Instagram. I think these steps are concrete methods to help reduce the amount of deaths related to distracted driving.

I was one of the lucky ones. I did something so miniscule in thought that I couldn’t even comprehend at the time how irresponsible it was. I am living (and I am lucky to say living) proof that even glancing down at your phone for a second can cause the most severe consequences. I lost my car and license, but anything is better than losing a life. I am proud to say I am adamant about distracted driving and consistently try and do better. My phone is always on “driving mode” and if I need ti use GPS, I simple connect the audio so the directions are played over the speaker, thus I never have to look down at my phone. I learned that there is truly no rush to send a text while driving. It is worth to wait until you are parked or at a prolonged red light. There are measures that we can all take in order to reduce the risks of crashes and deaths which can be proven to work. It is up to lawmakers to enact laws, tech developers to program apps, as well as citizens to follow in order to ensure a safer world for all.