Thousands of deaths happen a year from car accidents alone. More people die in car accidents every year compared to major wars that have happened in America History. Why is that? Distracted driving. As soon as someone’s attention is on something else, the risk of getting into an accident rises astronomically. What is distracting these drivers? Their phones. When you see major accidents happen on the news, it’s because of drunk driving or other people were distracting the driver, but most of the time accidents happen because someone was checking their phones because someone texted them. With technology constantly evolving, car companies have been implementing new technology into their cars so that people don’t have to look at their phones to see who is calling/texting them or looking at directions, but the drivers are still taking their eyes off the road. This begs the question of, what can people do to avoid getting distracted on the road in order to save their lives and many others?
The obvious answer would be just to not check their phones, but no matter how many times you tell someone that, they will still do it. This is why car companies implemented giant screens in their cars so that people can look at them to see what is happening on their phone, but that is still distracting. The drivers have to take their eyes off the road just to look at the screen. So how do we prevent drivers from taking their eyes off the road? As of now, there is no way for people to check their phones without taking their eyes off the road, but technology is evolving at a rapid rate. There might be an answer later down the road, but as of now, what we need to do is teach new drivers what happens when you get distracted on the road, especially by their phones.
Drivers education has started implementing new lessons into their system to teach kids the danger of technology on the road. These lessons contain examples of what happens when you're looking at your phone instead of the road when driving. These examples are usually scripted videos teaching kids what happens when you look at your phone and get into an accident and the significance it has on the other people that are involved in the accident. But sometimes, the teacher will show new articles or videos on real accidents that have happened because of distracted driving that involved technology. This technique of teaching implements a fear into new drivers as those new articles or videos could be them or people they hold dear to them. While this method might be viable for some new drivers, it doesn’t work for all of them. There is no clear way to teach people how dangerous distracted driving is until they experience it for themselves.
As someone who has gotten close to getting several accidents because the person driving me was texting or even myself, I can say I know how dangerous it is. Some new drivers can be cocky, like I was, and believe they are the best drivers on the road, so rules don’t apply to them. Sadly, those people will learn sooner than later what talking on the phone or texting while driving can do to them or even other people on the road.
Everyone will learn eventually that distracted driving will harm themselves or someone else, but is it possible for them to learn sooner? It is, but not in any pleasant way. People see accidents happen everyday, on their way to work, school, or any place. While accidents may not occur as often in some places, there are always accidents happening. It is impossible to predict when an accident will happen. This is how people learn the hard way. Sometimes it is their fault, sometimes it isn’t. Is seeing or being in an accident the only way to learn how dangerous technology can be on the road? No, as demonstrated earlier on their driver education, but this is how most people learn sadly. Everyday, engineers are doing everything in their power to make newer, safer ways to be on the road with all these distracted drivers on the road.
So how can we stop people from getting into technology related accidents until we find a way to avoid these accidents? All we can do now is teach drivers the dangers of technology on the road and hope they listen to all the warnings. The more people told, the greater the chances people learn about the dangers and the less people will be using technology on the road. Everyone should be reminded constantly what technology does to drivers on the road so that people can keep a lookout on the road. Driver safe and stay vigilant.