New drivers today, especially those who get their licenses at freshly 16 are uninformed about the responsibility in driving. When I first was looking into getting my license everyone was telling me the horror stories about texting and driving and “don’t have your friends in the car for a while, you need to pay attention.” But the one thing no one told me was that I have to pay attention for other drivers too. I have to watch for other people who might be on their phone, doing their makeup, or have company in the car and aren’t focusing. I got my license a year after I was eligible but even with another year of experience it was still so surreal. The amount of focus and attention driving required scared me, I didn’t want to drive for a little while. I was scared of getting into an accident. The DMV worker who I did my test with gave me my license but told me parents that they should hold off on letting me drive around because I need more practice since I was so nervous behind the wheel.
I think a way to reduce the number of accidents would be to educate kids more. Everyone talks about how driving is a huge responsibility. But no one ever actually explains how someone can go about the responsibility. One thing my parents did when I got my license was that for the first 6 months I could only go to work and school. At 17 I hated it, but it was incredibly genius. Limiting the driving new drivers can do for a while would be a good idea. Having someone truly understand the significance of driving would help them to reduce the death toll by knowing the importance of not only checking yourself and your environment but by watching out for other drivers too. Another thing that could be implemented would be an app on high school student’s phones that is linked to their insurance. And the app tracks how fast they are going and if they get on their phone. But I know that a lot of times kids will ride with their parents so obviously the app would need a “passenger” button. That way the kids don’t get pinged for being on their phone while they weren’t driving. And the link to insurance would be to keep the price down. The more they are on their phone or speeding the more insurance would cost.
Something I have started doing is putting my phone out of reach that way I had to dig to find it if I wanted it. And if I feel myself reaching for it I will through it in my glove box so I cannot get to it. Another thing is if I have music playing and a passenger in the car, I let the passenger deal with changing music. And my parents are always on me about answering their texts no matter the time or what I am doing. So, I use my watch to Siri text or just call them on speaker. And when I do that I will drive a little slower on the road or make sure I’m stopped when calling.
While I have not been the one behind the wheel driving during an accident I almost was. I was getting off the highway doing about 65mph and slowing down. My mom was on the phone with Athens’s city police about a recommendation for someone to get a job. And all the sudden this car doing like 80 goes from the middle lane to the off-ramp and right on top of me. I swerved and hit the brakes avoiding getting hit. I freaked out but internally. My mom cussed the car out while on the phone with the cop and he laughed after the explained. That was when I truly learned that I have to drive for other people too. Made me drive a whole lot safer after that.
My brother and I were in the car on the way to school one day. We were driving through Red Top and on the last curve before the bridge we hit a patch of black ice and spun out into the mountain. If my brother hadn’t locked the car down, we would have fallen into the lake and possibly drowned. That wasn’t his first nor was it his last accident. And none were his fault, he just wasn’t looking anticipating that another car would end up NOT turning left in a left-turn lane and hit him head on.