Striving For Focused Driving
Round 3
Benjamin Mondry
Overland Park, Kansas
STRIVING FOR FOCUSED DRIVING
When I was 8 years old, my mom and 3 of my siblings were in a car accident. The car came out of nowhere and side swiped us. My brother, Jacob, got the worst of it. He had glass all in the side of his face and broke his foot in 4 places. He ended up having about 45 stitches in his face and wore a cast for a couple of months. We were all extremely lucky. The other driver had been on their phone and was distracted. Even at a young age, I learned that a distraction can only take a split second to have consequences. As I was growing up, my parents kept saying the same things that most parents say. “Don’t text and drive, don’t have your phone out, don’t listen to music too loudly, stay focused.” As teenagers, we hear them, but sometimes we get so used to hearing them that we might not listen. This is one of the main benefits of Drivers Education. It is important to learn and hear this information from experts. It becomes more impactful and will save your life or someone else’s life. The requirements of the 50 hours of driving, and the nighttime driving is to only make us more confident behind the wheel. Many people use a map on their phones for directions. This is fine, as long as you keep your eyes forward. Also, on almost every phone there is an app that will silence calls and texts while you are driving. If you are not driving, and you are a passenger, you can manually disable the app. I think that this should be mandatory for every driver. In this day and age, when distractions are so easily available, we need to do everything to teach people that a call or text can wait. That lives depend on it.
When I was 8 years old, my mom and 3 of my siblings were in a car accident. The car came out of nowhere and side swiped us. My brother, Jacob, got the worst of it. He had glass all in the side of his face and broke his foot in 4 places. He ended up having about 45 stitches in his face and wore a cast for a couple of months. We were all extremely lucky. The other driver had been on their phone and was distracted. Even at a young age, I learned that a distraction can only take a split second to have consequences. As I was growing up, my parents kept saying the same things that most parents say. “Don’t text and drive, don’t have your phone out, don’t listen to music too loudly, stay focused.” As teenagers, we hear them, but sometimes we get so used to hearing them that we might not listen. This is one of the main benefits of Drivers Education. It is important to learn and hear this information from experts. It becomes more impactful and will save your life or someone else’s life. The requirements of the 50 hours of driving, and the nighttime driving is to only make us more confident behind the wheel. Many people use a map on their phones for directions. This is fine, as long as you keep your eyes forward. Also, on almost every phone there is an app that will silence calls and texts while you are driving. If you are not driving, and you are a passenger, you can manually disable the app. I think that this should be mandatory for every driver. In this day and age, when distractions are so easily available, we need to do everything to teach people that a call or text can wait. That lives depend on it.
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