Distracted Driving Must Be Prevented

Driver education is key to teaching new students the vehicle and the art of driving the car in differing situations. This education allows for the new drivers to become experienced and prepared for entering a new stage in life, on that offers a chance of freedom and new outlook on life, but also carries significant burdens on the person in control. These realizations come from the teachings to the new drivers and offers a new outlook on the driving experience and brings a focus to the dangers that come from driving in a distracted setting, especially from social media.

Distracted driving creates thousands of deaths in the states every year. This is because both driving and a cell phone require enough attention that doing both successfully at the same time is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Even if the feat were to be done, it should not be encouraged as eventually, that action may result in an accident that not every party can walk away from. Distracted driving is a major issue pertaining to the youth today as teens are more susceptible to being on their phones, according to a Pew Research Center report over mobile etiquette in different settings.

Social media is the basis on how many younger generations communicate now. The younger generations have grown up with the technology and media platforms, meaning they have grown up with social media and electronic communication throughout their life. In fact, 95 percent of teens have access to a smartphone, according to a 2018 report by Pew Research. This statistic illustrates how much teens are involved with their phones and, along with that a reported 54% of teens claim that they spend too much time on their phone, according to a Pew Research 2018 report. The significant number of teens that use their phones so often answers the question quite clearly on why teens are more affected than adults when it comes to distracted driving.

Texting and driving have been restricted dramatically since statistics were taken, showing just how deadly the action can be, but social media is just as bad. Social media requires not only focus on what must be done but also includes typing as texting does, picture taking at times, and certain buttons pressed that is sometimes more time consuming than texting. The dangers of driving with a phone in a hand are not restricted to just texting, but is with the phone, meaning social media included. In fact, 48 out of the 50 states in Texas have restricted their citizens from using their phones while on the road. This action has allowed the numbers to drop, but not that dramatically as at least 9 people are killed a day according to Drive Safe Online. This means about 3300 people a year die due to a distracted driving accident. Even so, people continue to drive and stay on their phones, meaning that the actions currently take are not enough to discourage people.

Nowadays, people pay attention to issues in the news that are extreme and that pertain to them. This observation of people’s behaviors and subjects of interest results in the proposal of speaking upfront to the audience of teenagers. Those educating the younger generation can create a connection with the audience be providing an emotional experience with the group. The reason behind the more harsh and emotional approach to the young audience stems from how numb some teens have become to the tragedies and disasters that have happened both in their lives and their society. While this approach may seem too rough with the young audience, it is the best way to convey how dangerous distracted driving can be to both themselves and others.

While I have not experienced an accident myself, my brother has been in an accident before as well as a few of my friends. My brother’s accident was minor, but some of my friends have experienced harsh repercussions from driving while distracted. One of my friends destroyed her bumper from trying to answer a call while driving. She didn’t even try to touch her phone. She was distracted from the sudden sound of someone trying to call her that she looked away from the road for a moment to look for the sound and ran into a pole. Luckily, she was not harmed, but her car suffered from the distraction and lost a portion of its bumper. This instance only further encourages my belief that distracted driving, whether it be from social media on a phone or any type of electronic, is dangerous in any amount and should be prevented in any way possible.

These discoveries made and experiences seen have only further motivated me to work towards keeping others safe from this danger of distracted driving. I hope to advocate against electronics in view and in reach of the driver. Some ways I hope to do this is by actively protesting electronics in the front seat area and continuously implementing this action in my life, as well as try to persuade others in my life to do the same. Overall, distracted driving needs to be prevented in any way possible and I plan to start my mission to stop it by starting off small in my community before growing out.