Texting While Driving: A New Dangerous Trend

One second. One second of checking your phone. One second of not looking at the road. One second is all it takes for everything to go horribly wrong. In a day and age where technology is rapidly advancing, cell phones, in particular, have undeniably begun to dominate large aspects of our lives, the most problematic and dangerous situations being when we are on the road. As one of the leading causes of car crashes—with the National Safety Council reporting at least 1.6 million car accidents caused by texting and driving, annually—teenagers are at the forefront of this. While phones as a whole are to blame, it is the social aspect, the texting, and the compulsive tendency to always be updated with what is happening on social media that poisons teenagers’ ability to drive safely. As a teenager myself, who also wants to be socially active and included, I do admit that it can be “hard” to stay completely away from my phone and check notifications. Having been brought up in a generation of kids that has become really technologically-dependent, it can be challenging. Truly. However, that is no excuse in the context of driving habits, as such behaviors can literally mean life or death. The second that a teenager’s eyes are fixated on his or her phone while driving, they become unaware, ignorant, and naïve of their surrounding environment.

But how can an issue that seems so easily preventable persist in such a large presence? Although teenagers may know of the consequences of simultaneously driving while being on the phone, it definitely is not one of the first things they think about when on the road. In order for better driving habits to hammer through their skull, and be forever embedded in the way they drive, some sort of emotional and unforgettable association needs to be made between the teenager and texting (or using social media). Showing real life people, incidents, and injuries are a quintessential example of doing just that. As brutal as it may seem, displaying to teenage drivers people of a similar age who were severely hurt while being carelessly on their phone establishes a sense of relatability. It makes teenagers think, “Oh, that could have been me in that devastating situation, all mangled up.” When I was taking my Aceable driving course, I vividly remember being shown a drunk driving video that recounted a real life car accident, where an intoxicated young man had crashed into a woman who was driving, going about her casual day; the woman nearly died, but was quickly rushed to the hospital. Because of how irresponsible the young man was, not only did he lose his college scholarships, but he irreversibly injured the innocent woman. Pictures were even shown of the dozens of surgeries that the lady had to undergo in order to stay alive, all of which completely transformed how she looked. To this day, the side-by-side comparison of the woman’s face before and after the accident still lingers in my mind every time I drive, reminding me that while bad driving habits might jeopardize my own life, I could also hurt others in the process. This is what driver education taught me. And that is exactly what needs to be instilled amongst the teenagers who still need to learn the true importance of not texting and using social media when on the road. In other words, we need to increasingly show, teach, and educate teenage drivers of real life instances where driving while on the phone turned out disastrous, whether that be presenting gruesome photos of injuries caused by texting while driving, or unveiling videos of interviews of the reckless individuals who regret driving ignorantly.

Setting aside reducing dangerous driving habits through emotional and psychological means, another way to help combat teenagers using their phone while driving is through technology. Similar to how some cars, such as the Land Rover that my parents own, are able to detect when the vehicle is in motion—fully shutting down any built-in functions that might distract the driver from focusing on the road, including Bluetooth-pairing a new phone, or watching a movie on the main screen of the console—the same concept could be implemented into modern cell phones. To have phones detect when a person is in a car, or moving at a car-like speed, and completely disable any and all social media and messaging apps is a game changer to teenagers driving safely. In doing this, teenage drivers are deterred from constantly checking on their phones, which ultimately minimizes the dangers of driving carelessly. While I am unaware of a mobile app that operates as specifically depicted above, fortunately, I do know that phones have the ability to know when an individual is in a moving vehicle or not, as seen in the mobile game Pokémon Go; this game was able to differentiate when a player was actually walking, and when they were in a car driving. Building upon that same premise could yield life-saving changes in the way that teenagers take to the road.

Fortunately, I myself have never been in a frightening scenario involving texting while driving. However, I need to ensure that it stays that way, and that the people I love are also being cautious. Considering that I am an older brother, not only am I obligated, but I am responsible for teaching my younger sister what it means to be a competent and disciplined driver. My first and most basic step is to set a superb example. Being at that age where my sister is just starting to learn the fundamentals of driving on Aceables, her mind is still relatively impressionable. Everytime I drive her somewhere, I need to be the best, most perfect driver I can be, so that she can pick up and mimic good driving habits. Moreover, once she actually is able to drive with a learner’s permit, I will graciously take every opportunity I can to help her become a fantastic driver. In the context of using a phone while driving, I am determined to get it through to her head that using social media, or any sort of messaging app for that matter, while being in the driver’s seat is just an accident waiting to happen.

With lives at risk, every second counts in ensuring that the driver’s eyes are on the road, and that he or she is wholly attentive to the surrounding environment. To genuinely reduce horrible, life-threatening driving habits is to avoid sugarcoating the reality of texting and using social media while driving, being brutally honest about what consequences might lay ahead, the price that reckless drivers had to pay for, the aching victims whose lives have tremendously altered, and taking advantage of technology to serve a higher purpose on the road—saving lives and building quick-thinking, considerate, alert teenage drivers.