It only takes a second for a mistake to change your outlook.


The start of my junior year of high school was something I have been looking forward to since I was a little. I was so excited for my friends and I to all have our licenses and be able to drive around all day together. This excitement shortly wore off when I discovered what had happened to my friend. On May 31st 2023, my very close friend was in a near death accident due to distracted driving. I remember sitting at lunch with two of my friends when all of our phones went off. Everyone was posting pictures on their social media of our friend's car plowed halfway into a house down the street.  Thankfully she did not have any life-threatening injuries. She later explained to us that she was looking at her phone and on Spotify attempting to change the music playlist she was on, when she swerved to avoid being hit by a car. Her car then lurched over the curb, hit a parking sign, and proceeded to run into an innocent neighbor's house. This crash completely totaled the front of her car and caused thousands of dollars of damage to the house. Not only was her life in danger because of this distracted driving, but she could have almost killed an entire family in the comfort of their own home.
      That first week back at school, so many rumors about my friend were being spread about her accident.  For instance, students were saying she got a concussion and passed out, they stated she was drunk driving, claiming her family was being sued for millions of dollars, or that she hated the person that lived in the house and purposely crashed into the house to kill them. All of these rumors were horrible and absolutely not true and even spread to the nearby schools who posted their stories about her. Many students in the school then began to harass her and made fun of her throughout our entire junior year all for being distracted on her phone. It was heartbreaking to know she was hurting.
My friend was physically fine, yet mentally scarred. With the impact of her car, the house structure was very impacted and the cost of repairing the car and the house impacted her family's finances immensely.  This event really impacted my life and made me become a more cautious driver. I would not wish that to happen to anyone, how scary and embarrassing that would be. Tools I have utilized to be a better driver are many. First, I try to do my best to block out all distractions in my car so I won't be tempted to text. I personally utilize a checklist, no pets in the car, put the phone in a special spot with driving mode on, music down and let friends know I have to concentrate, especially because there are so many people around me who are not paying attention at all. Once I saw someone watching a TV show on their phone, with the window down, a dog in their lap, WHILE they were attempting to drive. This has got to stop. No wonder we have so many deaths that exceed combat. We are in a war of our own. Unfortunately, it is about to get worse, because students did not have in person training and were able to waive drivers ed during COVID. These students will be learning from their mistakes on their own, and sometimes with deadly consequences.
 I have a few ideas to help raise awareness to the dangers of distracted driving. Most importantly, I would be implementing more videos in drivers ed to prevent distracted driving. I think more real life examples of the dangers of distracted driving should be in the drivers ed videos. There should also be more campaigns to help spread distracted driving dangers on the internet more in hopes to influence people to stay off their phones when driving. 
Students are more receptive if they can relate to a story. Another idea I had in mind to prevent distracted driving would be requiring drivers of a vehicle to put notifications on silent and power off their phone each time they are behind the wheel unless they are using it for directions. In the future my hope is that the phones will interface with the cars so that the phones turn off when the car is started and resumes when the car is finished. At this point in time, hopefully the cars will have voice command capability so that you do not have to fidget with your phone to make calls and receive calls. 
Another tool that I think would be useful and most impactful to encourage new drivers to not drive distracted would be mandatory driver safety programs in schools. These courses could use real life examples, teens who could share their stories and how distracted driving had impacted their lives in a negative way.  I know the “fear factor” works well with teens, and even trips to local medical examiners would open teens' eyes to the dangers of distracted driving. It is no joke. I can ruin your reputation, someone's life, endanger your own life, wreck your trust with your parents, and give you PTSD if you have an accident. 
It is best for everyone to be safe and figure out a personal “checklist" each time you get behind the wheel so that you do the same thing every time before you drive to make your drive a safe one. Phone in holder, plan your trip route ahead of time, put your phone on silent driving mode, turn the stereo music down, no pets, limit friends in the car and focus, paying attention to those who may seem distracted as well. Get out of their path! A proactive plan will help protect you from temptation to drive less distracted and will keep you vigilant for those on the road who may be threats to your safety.