Distracted driving

The year has finally come to get behind the wheel, to feel the freedom that comes with the responsibility, but like all things danger always seems to find itself in a good thing. Distracted driving, the number one killer for car accidents. It shapes itself in different forms convincing oneself that a split second could not cause catastrophic damage and if it can’t persuade you in one form it will find another.

I told myself I wouldn’t be like everyone else, that my phone would stay silent that if I needed to pick it up I would just pull over, but comfort is a killer the moment I started to feel as though I knew every turn, the moment my hands departed from ten and two was the opening door way. It first started off with changing the music which I saw no problem with it was just a quick look down to the next song “I’m not doing anything wrong” ding.. ding… ding… the chime of my notifications didn’t phase me, and if it did I would just turn the music up louder and louder to where the vibrations of the base shook the mirrors in the car abstracting my view.

The music pounding in my heart causing me to zone out of my surroundings not truly paying attention to each turn, pedestrian, or car, but “i’m not doing anything wrong” at the time I didn’t realize the different forms distracted driving could come in for years I mainly heard about texting and drinking but I never knew anything that takes your full attention of the road is a distraction even emotions can be a distraction.

At a time when I was at a low point my mind was spinning with so many thoughts causing me to be angry and sad all at once I just wanted to scream shut up! to make it all stop instead I slammed my hand on the dashboard and that force caused my foot to hit the gas propelling me into the street, midway into the road my light turned green and thankfully by the grace of God an accident wasn’t caused. That moment truly woke me up to all the different ways I kept getting distracted while driving and not even noticing it for what it was and I finally realized “I am doing something wrong.”

I didn’t want to be another statistic added to the charts so I found a way to minimize my distracted habits first I make new playlists every month of songs that I love so that I don’t have to change them whilst driving and once I get tired of that one I make sure to make a new one before I go out, I also keep my ringer off so that I don’t get the urge to look down and check my messages, and lastly if I am feeling overwhelmed, tired, sad etc. I make sure to check if I am in the right mindset to go driving and if the answer is no then I wait until I am because distracted driving doesn’t only put me in danger but it puts somones loved one in danger too.

I started to share with my family what I have come to acknowledge. I respectfully told my sister about some distracted driving habits. I noticed the times that I was in the car with her. her demanding job made for a stream of text messages which made her feel as though she had to reply then and there as time went on I started to notice it got worse one time we were in the car at night and she almost hit a median on the freeway which I believe was her aha moment because after that I rarely if ever saw her phone in her hand.

It’s important that we educate ourselves making sure to take a step back to realize one’s bad habits for the safety of ourselves and others this consistent reminder that it is not just us on the road helps us to get out of our own car and realize there are lives that have stories and children, and parents and husbands, and, wives riding in the vehicle right next to and across from you. When we take steps like these this can help reduce the number of deaths in distracted driving. I came across a man once who was under the influence of alcohol. I don’t know his story, but because he chose to drive in a dangerous manner it put me and my family at risk. I believe that setting protocols for when spirits can be sold might help this problem. These are just a few ways how distracted driving has impacted my life.