Gargi Dixit




As I put my hands on the steering wheel and turned the key in the ignition for the first time in drivers ed, all I could think about was racing down endless winding lanes, with the music turned high and the wind rushing past me. Silently daydreaming, I began to back out of the parking space, when suddenly, I felt the car jerk to a stop as my instructor braked harshly using the emergency brake on his side of the car. A second glance at the rearview mirror revealed a cyclist passing the road right behind me. Shocked, I realized quickly that driving is a privilege that comes with a lot of responsibility, and that I would have to pay a lot more attention to it than I had previously imagined. Since then, I have come a long way in making sure to pay attention to driving, but I still have a few habits that contribute to distracted driving.
While driving, one of my biggest distractions is looking at my phone when it rings or buzzes. I make sure to never reply to calls or texts, but I’m still distracted whenever I hear the telltale sound of an incoming text. To avoid this distraction, I could put my phone on do-not-disturb mode when I drive. I could also use the hands-free voice command feature on my phone if absolutely necessary.
Another big distraction that I have when I drive is playing music loudly. I often use my phone to play a music playlist while I drive, but if I come across a song I don’t like, I fiddle with the buttons on the radio to change the music. I realize that the few seconds that it takes me to do that could be very dangerous when I drive. Instead, I could organize a playlist before I start driving, so that I wouldn’t have to change the music while I’m driving. I could also make sure to keep the music volume low so that I can hear what’s going on around me on the road.
When I drive, I often navigate to my destination using GPS. It’s a lot easier to get to unfamiliar roads when I have my phone’s GPS capabilities. However, looking at my GPS means taking my eyes off the road, which causes distracted driving. From now on, I could use my phone’s voice command feature so that I can hear the directions instead of having to look at my phone. Alternatively, I could look at the route beforehand, so that I know which roads to take without having to look at my GPS.
Finally and most importantly, focus and concentration are essential when I drive. Sometimes, if I’m thinking about my day or worrying about an upcoming test, I tend to get lost in my thoughts and get distracted from the road. Although the tendency to daydream while driving isn’t one that’s talked about often, it is still a big contributor to distracted driving. In the future, I’ll make sure to focus completely on the road while I drive, and put other worries to the side for that amount of time. Before I start driving, I’ll take a minute to make sure that I’m mentally focused on the task of driving, so that I don’t get distracted by other thoughts.
By concentrating on driving and avoiding distracting habits on the road, I can ensure the safety of all those around me. Although some of my current habits do cause distraction when I drive, I now know to use the techniques that I described to avoid those distracting habits while I drive!