Distracted Diving

I used to make fun of my mom for being a bad driver. My brother and I were too loud so she couldn’t focus on the road, we were fighting so she had to turn around taking her eyes off the road to deal with us, we dropped something and couldn’t reach it so she had to reach back and get it while still trying to drive, and we made a mess while trying to eat in the car so she would try to clean it up while driving. It wasn’t until I started driving myself that I realized how much we distracted her from the back seat and how lucky we were to all be alive. She isn’t a bad driver, but she was definitely a distracted driver. I took driver's education and learned about distracted driving. I’ve seen videos of distracted driving crashes. I’ve had my fair share of close calls, but it wasn’t until my brother and father were in a very serious car accident involving a distracted driver that I woke up to the serious nature of distracted driving and reflected on my own driving. My father has 9 slipped discs in his back and my brother has 2 due to the accident. Every air bag in the truck deployed. My mom and I received an alert on our phones that there had been an accident. Pulling up to the scene not knowing what happened or if they were ok was one of the scariest moments of my life. It was a miracle that they were able to walk away from the accident. When I learned that the driver had been on their phone, I became enraged. How could they do this to my family? What was so important on their phone that they had to look at it and almost killed my brother and father? Then it hit me. I was that driver too. I’ve looked at my phone while driving. I’ve taken my eyes off the road to change the music. I’ve paid more attention to my friends in the car than to the road. I’ve dropped something on the floor and looked down to get it. I’ve eaten while driving looking at my food instead of the car in front of me. I’ve done my makeup while driving, staring more at myself in the mirror instead of paying attention to the road. I had to admit to myself that I could have been that distracted diver almost taking the lives of others. I had to acknowledge that looking at my snap chat or instagram while driving were not worth paying the ultimate price. Why did it take my family getting into an accident for me to see the light? Why weren’t the close calls I had before their accident enough to wake me up? How do we prevent drivers, especially teen drivers, from becoming distracted? The answer starts when we are young and observing our parents who are our first mentors in life. My mom was a distracted driver which gave me a false sense that I could be one too. Instead of turning around and dealing with my brother and I, instead of picking up what we dropped, and instead of cleaning up our messes all while she was driving, she should have pulled over. After pulling safely off the road, she then could have handled whatever we were doing to distract her. My mom should have also explained to us the ramifications of our actions. Hearing over and over again that we could cause an accident by distracting her and giving us consequences for distracting her would have taught us to not only stop distracting our mom but would have taught us not to keep driving while being distracted and to pull over instead. Seeing our mom pull over every time she was distracted would have taught us to pull over as well. My mom also drove while being on her phone all the time. This too gave me a misleading impression that when I started driving I could be on my phone too. Parents are the first line of defense to prevent distracted driving. Do not disturb mode or other apps like it on cell phones limiting texts and phone calls while driving so teens do not become tempted to look at their phones should be enforced. Placing your phone away from view like in a purse or backpack, in the trunk, or in the glove compartment can also deter distracted driving. Ultimately, the final choice to end distracted driving behaviors comes down to the driver like it did for me. All drivers need to choose to put their life and the lives of others above their phone, food, makeup, music, etc… All of the classes, apps, safety features, tests, and videos in the world won’t work if the driver themselves has no empathy for others. Getting back to a place where caring and prioritizing life over everything else is the final step to warding off distracted driving.