About Alyssa Bernat
Senior at Hartselle High School. Alyssa is involved in multiple extracurricular organizations, including Mu Alpha Theta, Key Club, and Hartselle’s Medical Academy: HOSA, among others. She will be attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham to pursue a nursing degree, so one day she can become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.
Parents: Alan Bernat, Engineer & Nydia Bernat, Stay-at-home Mother
Distracted Driving Essay
Over 18 years ago, Apple launched its first-ever iPhone, a mobile phone similar to the iPod that was designed to ease communication. Its key feature, iMessage, allowed for texts to be sent instantaneously and for others to respond in mere seconds. Around 6 million people purchased the first iPhone and utilized this new technology. As phones and texting continued to advance and popularize, with over 1.5 billion people utilizing iPhones today, texting and driving emerged as a serious problem. Resulting in approximately 3,500 deaths each year in the United States alone, texting and driving has become a serious epidemic. Immediate action and the spread of awareness can save countless lives and increase the safety on the roads for everyone.
Surveys show that 60% of drivers have admitted to texting while driving in the past. As the majority of people text and drive, there must be different ways of reaching out to different audiences, based on ages and backgrounds. This means that there must be multiple methods utilized to successfully spread and warn others of the dangers of distracted driving.
Messages aimed at teens and young adults can be found through school assemblies and fliers. These messages can be easily ignored and avoided without the proper intent to truly inform our youth. First off, general slogans or messages are ineffective. Common sayings like “It Can Wait” or “Phone Down, Eyes Up” are vague despite their familiarity. Effective methods of dangerous driving warnings include testimonials given by fellow teens. Sharing one’s experiences puts the true dangers into perspective; first-person details provide the imagery of the traumatic experiences one has gone through due to distracted driving. The student-run organization SADD, Students Against Destructive Decisions, is a perfect example of this method. Holding regular assemblies, student leaders band together to provide fellow students with recounts of car accidents, statistics relevant to their age group, and proper precautions to keep themselves and others on the road safe. Another means of spreading awareness would be through social media posts, YouTube advertisements, and public service announcements. In the current digital age, more people are online than ever before. Statistics show that around 95% of teenagers between the ages of 13-17 have access to a smartphone.
Furthermore, 90% of these teens frequently use at least one social media platform. With an average screen time of seven to nine hours, a post will be able to reach a large audience. There is simply one problem: decreasing attention spans. Teens today have shorter attention spans than those of 25 years ago, showcasing a twelve-second decrease, and though this seems small, in today’s fast-paced world, those twelve seconds are crucial in creating videos and posts to be deemed worth watching by these young audiences. If a post does not catch a teen’s attention right away, it will not keep it. Similar to the slogans, what good will a post do if a teen simply decides to ignore it and scroll away? The same defense may be used, only in a different form. Striking images, disturbing statistics, and creative storytelling are effective ways to gain attention quickly and successfully. Two infamous ads that haunt the minds of my generation are The Real Cost’s metal monster and “Little Lungs in a Great Big World” advertisements. The metal monster ad visualizes the nicotine and metal intake from vaping in the form of a giant monster. This grand visualization conveys the danger of long-term vaping and the concerning amount of metal that can accumulate in your lungs. The “Little Lungs in a Great Big World” advertisement features an anthropomorphic set of properly named Little Lungs that never grew to their proper size due to smoking in one’s youth. The different episodes of the ad series explored Little Lungs’ lack of functioning due to his small size. Little Lungs’s constant pain from harsh breathing hampered his ability to do common activities, such as blowing out candles or playing sports. The long-term effects of smoking, especially at a young age, were portrayed through this ad, reducing the amount of teen smoking. Through these campaigns, The Real Cost has successfully prevented up to 587,000 U.S. youth from starting smoking and 444,252 U.S. youth from using e-cigarettes. Advertisements like these can be constructed to emphasize the dangers of texting and driving and can result in fewer incidents of texting and driving.
Phone usage amongst older generations is similarly prevalent. From reading and responding to work emails to texting one’s spouse back, texting and driving does not end with teenagers. Different methods should be used to spread caution to this age group. Since fewer individuals at higher ages use social media, this is not the most effective method. However, on morning routes to work, many billboards can be clearly seen. Many billboards can be found with limited words, to prevent distraction, but with attractive visuals to garner attention. Typically, these billboards consist of large, bold lettering to be clearly read quickly. They also contain a glass-shattering photo or effect to indicate a car accident is imminent to those who dare text and drive. Another method of warning for adults is accountability to others in the car. Picture a family on a road trip: dad is driving, mom is in the front seat reading, and two kids in the back seats are playing games to pass the time. Dad requires directions, and instead of looking on his phone to search the internet for a map, his wife is ready with a GPS beside him. This will save time, preventing distractions for the driver. Subsequently, lives are not put at risk from distractions that the driver may face. Another method would be to set up driving mode settings on one’s phone. Apple’s “Driving Focus” and Android’s “Driving Mode” both silence notifications, send automated replies, and block distractions to prevent phone usage while driving.
As awareness is spread about the relatively new danger that texting and driving is, the more people can do to stop it. Similar to the rampant decrease in smoking, distracted driving can be eliminated over time, saving countless lives in its process.
Hurt by a Distracted Driver in Alabama?
Contact distracted driving attorneys at Morris, King & Hodge in Northern Alabama for a free initial consultation.
