For as long as I can remember, I have heard my mother talk about distracted driving and how dangerous it is. My mother has worked at UPS for 25 years and she is a Master Driver Trainer, so you can imagine how my mid-teenage years went. A few months before I turned fifteen, she gave me the same study material she gives her drivers (The Five Seeing Habits and the 10 Point Commentary) and told me I was not going to be allowed to get my permit until I learned it word for word. I could not leave anything out, not even an apostrophe! Of course, I thought this request was extreme, but I wanted to drive, so I started studying. As I started memorizing the material, my mother would explain and demonstrate what The Five Seeing Habits and 10 Point Commentary meant while she was driving. I started looking at driving as a privilege, I also started looking at driving as a task where I was responsible for being defensive. Defensive drivers not only know what they are doing, but they also know what other drivers are doing. You cannot be defensive if you are playing with the radio, fixing your hair, eating a cheeseburger, or reading a text while driving down the road. My mother would come home from work sometimes and tell me about auto crashes that had happened. She would ask me what I thought was the root cause of the crash, and nine times out of ten, it was a result of distracted driving. I was taught to approach all intersections prepared to stop. I know to look left-right-left as I approach the intersection. I first look left because that is the first lane of traffic I am going to enter; I look right to make sure everyone has stopped, and I look back to my left to make sure everyone is obeying their traffic signs and signals. Intersection crashes are the deadliest crashes if you are distracted you cannot properly clear the intersection.
It is against the law toe text and drive in North Carolina. Schools in our area will partner with local police departments and have crashed cars parked out in the front of the school sometimes to generate conversation about distractive driving. This activity is good because it puts the results directly in front of the young driver. Visual aids such as this have an enormous impact. Often young people are not able to comprehend what is being said to them, but seeing the result of distractive driving tends to stay with the person better.
While Drivers Ed is a useful tool to aid in the education of young drivers, it is my belief that the best teacher is the parents. I know not everyone has a Master Driver Trainer as a parent, but what most people have is an adult in their life who loves and cares about their wellbeing. That person should take a huge interest in the training of their child. With most things, it starts at home. In North Carolina, a driving log is required when you apply for your driver’s license. Everyone of those hours need to be completed with a good responsible driver. I also find it helpful for crashes that are a result of distracted driving to be reviewed with the young driver. Young drivers need to see the outcome of texting and driving. Videos, pictures, and news paper articles are all good tools to use while trying to convey this message. Ask the young driver what he/she thinks happened, and what he/she thinks could have been done to prevent the crash. Most crashes can be avoided if you are defensive, it is important for the young driver to be aware of that.
Another way to prevent distracted driving is to have the young drivers phone set-up to do not disturb while driving. If the young driver hears their phone ding, they will instinctively look down at their phone. Teach the young driver that there is not anything more important than their safety and that they can read their text or return a call once they secure their vehicle. My mother never gets angry if I do not answer the phone because I was driving. This task goes back to my initial thought, it starts at home. The person training and instructing their child cannot tell their children to not text and drive and then themselves text and drive. The trainer must lead by example. Eating and drinking is also a form of distractive driving. If you are doing anything other than driving, you are considered distracted. The driver should always be alert and scanning the driving scene.
At the end of the day, one of the most dangerous activities we allow young people to participate in is driving. Not only do they have to worry about their own skills, but they must also be aware of what other drivers are doing. Think about the number of decisions you make by simply driving to the end of you own street. You get in the car and hook your seatbelt, scan the area prior to backing, do you back to the left, or back to the right? You pull to the end of your driveway; do you stop or do a bump and roll? As you are driving towards the stop sign, a neighbor is approaching the end of their driveway. Are they going to stop or pull out in front of you? There are kids playing in their yard, are they going to dart out in front of you? Do you slow down or speed up? Do you sound your horn to establish eye to eye contact? There is a person following behind you as you approach the stop sign. Is that driver going to slow down as you slow down, or are they going to run into you from behind? If they do not slow down, where is your escape route? Is it to my left or to my right? No one can make those decisions properly if they are distracted. All those things happened, and you have not gotten out of your neighborhood yet! The young driver must be trained properly, and lazar focused. One wrong decision can lead to lifechanging results. This message must be drilled into the young driver’s mind. Quiz them. Show them. Lead them. Their life could depend on it.