Legal Doesn’t Mean Advisable: The Dangers of Distracted Driving

As
a volunteer firefighter, I have seen my fair share of car accidents.
Many are due to gross negligence, such as driving while under the
influence of drugs or alcohol. Other car accidents are simply that:
accidents.

The
scariest experience I’ve had while responding to a vehicle
extrication call was not because of its severity, but because it hit
close to home. One morning, I was getting ready for school when I
received an extrication call. There had been an accident involving a
head-on collision with two cars. Upon arriving on scene, I realized
that the driver responsible for the accident was one of my closest
friends. Luckily, she and everyone else involved escaped with minor
injuries. However, this experience showed me that while many
accidents are due to negligence, others are due to distraction.

During
the accident, my friend had been using voice command to text her
mother through the bluetooth connection in her car. Technically, she
was not using her phone. Technically, she didn’t do anything wrong.
But she still got into an accident, and people were still hurt.

The
use of hands-free technology in cars is both a blessing and a curse.
It means that drivers are much less likely to physically use their
phones while driving. However, it also gives the impression that
using this technology is not a risk. Diverting any amount of
attention to another task while driving is dangerous. Although it is
not illegal, drivers need to be made aware that using voice command
to text or call while driving still carries incredible risk.

My
friend understands the magnitude of what happened, and that she was
responsible for injuring other innocent people. She now drives with
her phone in the backseat of her car, out of reach, and with the
bluetooth disconnected. So do I.

So
many of the car accidents I respond to have been the result of
distracted driving. Students in drivers ed classes need to
be made aware that although certain activities, like using bluetooth
to text and call hands-free while driving, may not be explicitly
illegal, they still carry enormous risk and should be discouraged.
Many causes of distracted driving are technically legal. Enforcing
the fact that legal does not mean advisable will allow for a
reduction in the amount of injury and death related to distracted
driving.