The Danger of Driving with Distraction

My school does not offer a driver’s education course. Now, some of us have driven some type of vehicle, a golf cart or an old car, from the time we were very young. Given that I live out in the middle of the country in Missouri, this is not unusual as parents teach their children on back roads. When my friend from North Carolina came to visit during the summer, she remarked how shocked she was that it wasn’t required for our school to teach/test the students. I had initially reacted with my statement from above, that most of us had learned when we were young, but thinking back a few years ago changed my mind. At that time, four friends of mine from school were driving down a back road late at night. They were sophomores in high school and had all learned how to drive on back roads when they were younger. The boy driving took a sharp turn on a gravel road and was not paying attention to the speed he was driving on this type of road, but rather to the other boys in the car. This caused them to flip and roll the car four times. The fact that hit me the hardest about this was that not a single one of the four boys had bothered to put on a seat belt. It was a miracle that all four boys lived and did not experience any long term or serious complications. One of the boys spoke to the health class the next year about what had happened and shared his story. He had been in the front passenger seat next to the driver and when the car flipped, he reported that he saw the driver begin to fly toward the windshield. He remembered grabbing his friend by the arm and pulling against the momentum of his body to keep him in the car. The boys’ story and the pictures of the wreckage of the car hit the students in my class hard, even though the boys were fine. A lot of students vowed to stop using their phones while driving and began following speed limits. This however didn’t hold and many of my friends today constantly text and drive. Being in a car with a friend doing this is a difficult situation. If my friend is driving I’ll say “Hey, I can hold your phone while we’re in the car.” Usually, this works great and my close friends will have me text back people that they want or need to answer. It is much safer this way as the driver’s eyes remain on the road and both hands on the steering wheel. I hand off my phone the moment I get in the car with friends or if I’m by myself, I will set it in the cup holder. However, being in a situation where you don’t know the driver, and they’re on their phone, is extremely nerve racking. With those acquaintances, I usually offer to drive and explain that I’m not comfortable being in a situation where the driver is distracted by their phone or notifications they feel they need to answer immediately. Not only do students use their phones while driving, but they also feel that using seat belts is optional. Not one of the four boys in the crash had been wearing a seat belt. Granted, they were fine, but many others are not awarded the same fate. Putting on a seat belt is what stands between flying out of a car and staying safely in. If the driver in the boys’ story hadn’t been pulled back by the passenger, he could have been severely injured or even killed. If the boys in the back seat hadn’t held on the moment they felt the car flip, they too could have flown out. Many of the students will wear their seat belts in the city and on highways, but when they are in the country they think, “It’s only a couple of minutes to grandma’s house. There’s no way I could get into a crash in that amount of time.” Those were words spoken to me by my older sister. Our grandmother lives 2-3 minutes away from our house, but multiple car crashes have occurred on that country highway. Crashes are not a once in a blue moon thing, they could happen to anyone and it pays to be prepared for them. If a seat belt means that I keep my sister for another day, I will fight for it every time. The seat belts weren’t the boys’ only problem though. While the driver was not on his phone, the people around him were constant distractions to his driving resulting in the crash. Passengers need to be aware of how they affect drivers to reduce this type of distraction and allow for drivers to do their job. Some steps I can take to be a better driver are to set my phone further away from myself to decrease temptation and to continue to help those around me drive as undistracted as possible. I can also be more aware of using my seat belt and about how I am acting as a passenger in a car. Although my example will help others to feel comfortable taking these safety measures also, I will sometimes still need to be blunt and honest with those around me that deaths can occur by not adhering to the rules of the road.