Safe Driving and Social Media Don’t Mix

Driving With Media

Coming out of middle school and entering high school as a fourteen year old kid in the midst of a new world was weird and scary to say the least. The new world I am referring to is the rise of smartphones and social media, a good but not so good thing to happen. My generation are the guinea pigs for the brand new age of smartphones and social media. It does and it has done so much good for the world, making us so much more connected than ever before. Everyone now has the chance to connect with whomever they need to, whenever they would like to, and however they’d like too. With all pros, must come cons and that holds true with smartphones and social media, As they rise in popularity so does the amount of fatal car accidents. When I had turned sixteen and was able to get behind the wheel all by myself I found myself reaching for my phone, I felt like I had no reason not too as there was nobody to stop me. Although when I was in drivers education and taking my drivers test I had known that my phone was not okay, it all changed when I was alone. Nearly a quarter of all fatal car accidents are from distracted driving due to cell phones and that was something I knew. The issue I had come to learn was that it wasn’t the thought of a car accident that would stop me, it was the thought of legal consequence that would stop me, but it feels as if there is none. I knew that if I was to be driving under the influence I have to face the horrible consequences, it never really felt like that with my cellphone. I truly believe that there needs to be much more consequences for texting and driving as it is almost if not the most dangerous thing to do behind the wheel of the car. Fortunately as I got older and more mature I have learned from the mistakes I have made before. I have gotten myself into two petty accidents that didn’t cause any damage to me or others but it definitely hurt the pockets and should have been easily avoidable. The more I looked for the commonality of it, the more and more I realized it is so much more common than most people think. It is not just my age group either, it is all groups of people, all ages all shapes and sizes, it is everyone. The only place I have ever really seen anyone saying anything about it is a couple posters in the health room at my school or a new billboard telling me not to text and drive that then changes to a distracting advertisement. My friends and family are all guilty of it just as I was and I cannot really blame them. As our society continues to grow more and more technologically advanced, so does the amount of technology in cars. While a lot of the tech that is added to our cars is supposed to help us stay away from our phones, it sometimes tempts us even more. It could be that the bluetooth isn’t connecting properly while driving, or that text that pops up onto the screen, either way a lot of people are going to end up on their phones. Although, just like I had said earlier, with all pros, comes cons and that can be held true vice versa. As technology in cars advance, there are definitely a lot more safety features that get added. Looking at Tesla for example, they have managed to develop a car that can safely and effectively drive itself all while keeping the occupant aware. Even in my dad’s car which isn’t nearly as advanced as a Tesla, it still has many new safety features to help stop the driver from distracted driving such as lane assist. These are all great advancements for society to help keep us safer on the road, but this technology is not quite readily accessible yet and it is still not a way to justify distracted driving. At the end of the day, to help combat the fatal accidents caused by distracted driving, a lot more awareness needs to be raised, it needs to be a much bigger point of talking during drivers education and instead of trying to make drivers safer while distracted driving, we as a society need to make us all safer by not driving while distracted.