It Shouldn’t Cost A Life

Driving. The word in itself you think of yourself going down the
road, but what you don’t think of is what is going on inside the
car. There are many distractions such as loud music, that rattling
noise, or screaming kids. There is one big distraction also, your
phone. As it goes off, it catches your attention. You look at it.
Soon you are going downhill, you are still pressing the gas from
going uphill. Your attention is on the phone instead of the road. You
look up and you are on the left side of the road and you are speeding
a lot over the speed limit. You are nearing the front bumper of a
large s.u.v. You slam on your brakes and swerve to the right side of
the road again. You are alright, but you are freaking out. You
realized that you are lucky. You don’t realize you just broke many
laws in that situation. That doesn’t change anything, though. You
are addicted to your Instagram likes and you are missing your
boyfriend, so you check again. This time for a split second. You ask
Siri to text your boyfriend, “I love you”. Yet again because you
realize that you could have never seen him again if you wrecked. You
put your life in danger and you are willing to do it again. It could
have cost your life both times. You think that the validation of
seeing how many people liked a picture of you is worth your life.

During drivers ed course you saw that it was illegal to
even be on the phone unless it was an emergency, especially if you
are under the age of eight-teen. A sixteen-year-old girl such as the
one in the story above had just got her license. Drivers ed can
not help reduce the number of deaths, but it can help enforce the
laws. People need to follow the rules to stay safe. To reduce the
number of deaths we should have stricter laws and penalties. We have
to remember that driving is not a “have to”, it is a privilege.
We should have more points taken away for distracted driving that
leads to revocation, and fines we have to pay. This should happen
because we aren’t willing to give up two hundred dollars, but we
are willing to give up our entire lives and others lives for checking
our phones. It’s as simple as putting your phone on “do not
disturb” mode. There are also apps such as “OnMyWay” that pays
you for not looking at your phone while driving. There are multiple
things people can do to help them be safer drivers, just like getting
apps, or throw your phone in the backseat, and get it when you get
out of the car. The scary thing is I have never had anyone tell me a
story about them getting in an accident because they have never been
able to live to tell it.