One
Second Too Late


At
just the age of fifteen and a half, young children are trusted behind
the wheel. With the increase of technology amongst these children,
driving becomes even more of a risk to them and everyone they are
around. At such an age these children don’t realize how dangerous
driving could be. Drivers Ed should be required to all drivers even
at the age of eighteen when in some states you can skip these
classes. This is important for teaching new drivers the dangers that
driving can hold. This allows them to be aware of such dangers the
first time they get behind the wheel. These classes also provide
important information on how to drive safely even if no distractions
are present.

Distracted
driving is the number one cause of deaths behind the wheel.
Distracted driving is not as simple as just looking at a text, but
can range anywhere from checking an email to jamming out with some
friends in the car. Distracted driving comes in all shapes and sizes
but the outcome can be dangerous. I’ve had many experiences with
people I know and trust being irresponsible behind the wheel, for
this reason I offer to drive as much as I can. These people I’ve
seen do something as simple as looking a little too long at the radio
to as far as playing games on their phone. This has caused them to
swerve all over the road, including over the centerline into oncoming
traffic. What I think some people don’t realize is that it only
takes looking at something for one second too long for disaster to
strike.

Personally
I refrain from calling or texting anyone while I am driving. This has
been made easier for me because I have a feature on my phone that can
sense when I am moving at the speed of a car therefore most likely
driving. It’s able to silence all notifications so I am not tempted
to look down when I hear my phone ding. I also try to keep the radio
and my music low enough that I can concentrate on the road because if
these things are so loud that I can’t hear myself think then they
are too loud for me to pay attention to the road.

Overall,
distracted driving is a big problem but in order to fix this
individual people have to make their own decision to drive safely and
aware of the things around them. This is because at the end of the
day one second too long could also be one second too late when trying
to prevent an accident.