Name: Sean McClanahan
From: Downers Grove, IL
Votes: 0
Sean
McClanahan
In
the Driver’s Seat
Every
year, over 36,000 people die from car accidents, and over 3 million
are injured. To put that in perspective, the amount of American
deaths in the Korean War, a 3-year conflict, was just under 34,000.
How is it that, every year, an entire war’s worth of people dies?
Well, distracted driving is a major factor.
With
the evolution of smart phones, and even touchscreen displays in cars,
distracted driving is more rampant than ever. 1 out of 3 people text
and drive. 1 out of 5 crashes are caused by distracted driving. You
are 23
times more likely
to crash while texting and driving. So why do people do it? Well,
it’s simply the effect that smart phones have on us. The reality is
that most people are addicted. A solution that some smart-phone
manufacturers are implementing is simply a “driving mode” This
turns on when your phone detects you going over a certain speed. This
“driving mode” mutes notifications and limits usability while on
the move. This is optional. If this mode was on by default,
distracted driving would decrease steadily, and with-it, fatalities.
Driving
education now heavily focuses on discouraging distracted driving and
encouraging safe driving practices, such as defensive driving. This
method of education is effective, but what about those who have been
driving the same way for 20 or 30 years? Over the past decade, more
and more laws are being passed to try and prevent distracted driving.
By enforcing newer laws and raising public awareness of the dangers
of texting and driving, technology use will decrease. Such programs
almost halved cell phone usage while driving in the states of
California and Connecticut. If there was to be federal funding and a
nationwide campaign, this education-through-advertising method would
result in fewer cases of distracted driving and deaths from car
collisions.
I
was involved in a car accident this August. It was nothing serious,
but it scared the hell out of me. I had just gotten on break from
work and was looking around for somewhere to eat when the car in
front of me stopped suddenly, and I slammed on the brakes. I was
probably about 3/4ths of a car length behind him. I almost slowed
down enough to stop, but we collided. Since then, I now keep a much
larger distance, closer to a car and half, and am not so eager to
speed up when a light turns green. It was a lesson for me, one I will
never forget.
