The Road to Safety

I’ll never forget the blood boiling screams of my mom while my foot pressed heavily on the break so desperately. Work, please, work! I felt as if I was begging, but my pleas weren’t accepted or heard. The impact restrained my breath and I felt like a bug being compressed by a shoe. My body contorted against the seat belt as it impacted my side. The tightness of my chest scared me- was I breathing? Cries could be heard, but I was confused because I saw nobody around the compressed hunk of metal. Oh, the surprise I had when I realized that those cries weren’t from another bystander, but myself. This was my accident on November 3, 2020.

I know before my accident I believed that it couldn’t happen to me. Though according to the National Safety council “1.6 million car accidents are caused by cell phone use and driving” with “1 out of 4 car accidents-in the USA” alone are caused by texting and driving (Texting). Teenagers are the most inexperienced drivers and are at most risk for accidents since they don’t have those reflexes developed, even without distractions. So, the proposal for the solution is this: what if people under the age of 24 are required to have an app of their choice to monitor their phone usage while driving or an app that silences your phone while you’re driving, and teenagers are encouraged to keep their stereos below a certain volume to stay aware of their surroundings?

Apple introduced their “Do Not Disturb” (DND) while driving feature in 2017 and since then drivers have been becoming safer drivers. According to the study by Everdrive, just after one year of DND in place shows “that 70% of Everdrive iPhone users kept the feature enabled”

and that out “of those who enabled the feature, phone use while driving decreased by 8%” (EverQuote). That 8% is 128,000 of the 1.6 million people whose life could be saved from distracted driving through their app. If apple installed that feature onto all phones and made it so users had to turn it off for it not to occur, potentially 70% of lives could be saved. These people could be given another opportunity for a longer life from the restraining bonds to their cell phones.

I still remember the quiet yells outside while my ears rang, asking me if I was okay. No, no I wasn’t okay! I felt as if the world was weighed against my chest and the culprit was behind the other wheel. The man, scourged by age, emerged from the car and gabbled on about how he was distracted by the cell phone pressed against his ear. Ideally, it could’ve been prevented if he wasn’t on his phone, but despite how much people ramble to others about safety precautions of being on the phone while driving, it’s about as impactful as telling a toddler not to eat a tempting, savory marshmallow in front of their little hands. Thus, another proposition is in order, hands free calling. Hands free calling laws have already been implemented in multiple states because the “risk [is] nearly twice as high when drivers engage in visual/manual tasks such as dialing, texting, or reaching for a phone” (McCartt). If a law was created to limit the use of cell phones while behind the wheel across all 50 states, a drastic number of lives could be saved and altered. Almost all U.S States that have laws limiting hand-held cell phone use “have resulted in long-term reductions in hand-held phone use… and lower overall phone use compared with drivers in non-ban states” (McCartt). If a law such as this one can save one person’s life, then it’s overwhelmingly worth it. People, and teenagers especially, have a difficult time putting down their cell phone. Social media is another devastating magnet for attention and ‘Just one peek’ may be tempting if there was no consequence for their actions. If there were financial consequences instead of life altering, then it’ll train the next generation to be safer and teach the growing one to be as well.

In comparison to any large-scale changes, they take time and effort among the American people and as one of the leaders and examples globally, citizens can make a global impact today by advocating for handsfree calling, safety precaution apps, and promoting awareness of these disasters occur. These drastic, lifesaving results will be revolutionary if we put in the time and effort to implement them. Though, who said we needed a law to implement these changes? BE the change you want to see and encourage others to do the same. Be the difference.

Works Cited

McCartt, Anne T, et al. “Driver Cellphone and Texting Bans in the United States: Evidence of Effectiveness.” Annals of Advances in Automotive Medicine. Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine. Annual Scientific Conference, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, Mar. 2014, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4001674/.

Study Shows a Simple Smartphone Feature Can Reduce Distracted Driving, EverQuote, 27 Sept. 2021, https://www.everquote.com/blog/car-insurance/do-not-disturb-phone-feature/.

Texting and Driving Accident Statistics – Distracted Driving.” Edgarsnyder.com, 8 Aug. 2019, https://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cause-of-accident/cell-phone/cell-phone-statistics.html#:~:text=The%20National%20Safety%20Council%20reports,caused%20by%20texting%20and%20driving “