According to an article titled “Ticketing does little to curb distracted driving: stats” in the latest West Ender, it’s been one year since Vancouver started cracking down on distracted drivers. That’s one year since my parents bought Bluetooth headsets in order to stay connected while on the road. That’s one year since that initial lull in roadside text messaging. Unfortunately, it took less than a year for our resolution towards handheld discretion to fizzle out. Within a year the police have issued $5.2 million in fines to about 32,000 people, which means, they’re doing their job in keeping us off our cell phones while driving. So, why haven’t we changed our habits? It’s because the novelty of our cell phones combined with a pressure to stay connected outweigh the rationality of a potential mishap. It’s due to our fallible invincibility complex. It’s understandable given we haven’t completely conquered driving under the influence. This is why it is not enough to know that distracted driving was linked to 48% of the traffic deaths in the lower mainland since the law was instated. It is not even enough to ticket.
The article goes on to say that even though the law applies specifically to talking, texting, and emailing whilst driving that does not mean other forms of distraction are any safer. It goes on to list applying makeup, searching your car, and even reading the morning paper as other forms of distracted driving. Cleaning up a coffee spill was also mentioned on the list and unfortunately that’s one I am all too familiar with.
One early morning in September a friend was driving me to work. It was the first time I had ridden in his brand new Chevy Colorado. He had had the truck for a week and was on his way to fill up his gas tank for the second time. It was a frosty morning and we had scraped the cold off the windshield. Eager to run a few errands we did not wait for the windows to de-fog completely. His side of the windshield was clear and so he backed up and out into the alley. As the truck bounced around it seemed to hit every pot hole in the lane and inevitably his coffee spilled out of his cup and onto some important job related reports. “You know, we now sell these coasters that fit into a cup holder to catch any coffee spillage. They’re called Carsters. You should look into them.” As I joked we busily wiped up the mess. He concerned over his documents and me in charge of damage control of the Colorado’s pristine interior. Is it any surprise that we drove straight into the back of a parked utility trailer? The impact was enough to deploy the airbags. Gas filled the truck and I panicked unable to remove my seatbelt and when we regained composure we crashed again, this time straight into reality. We were completely at fault but very fortunate not to have injured ourselves or, more importantly, someone else in the ordeal. Later, when the smoke had cleared we discussed what had happened. I knew that I had played a role in speaking to him and calling his attention away from the road and felt entirely responsible. Dread filled my heart. I squeamishly asked, “Was that my fault?” fighting back the tears. My level headed friend knew that I had played a role but did not blame me. “There were so many factors” he mumbled distantly, “…frost, fog, talk, spilled coffee. All of those mistakes add up. You can’t take your eyes off the road for even a second.” He was right and the statistics show that this can happen to anyone. No one is infallible. No one is immune.
But, what if all we needed to do was start thinking like a child?
I was about seven-years-old when I first started to pay attention to anti drinking and driving commercials. They were ominous. There were blurry images of men stumbling towards their cars. The camera would dart back and forth while he fumbled for his car keys. The driver would get into the car without fastening his seatbelt and start up his engine. Within a block he would have crashed the car and then silence: Drinking and Driving Counterattack. It was enough to scare an innocent girl straight. But, like many children, I didn’t fully understand its meaning. One day as my mother took me through a drive through she ordered us both a drink. At first everything was fine. I held the cup tray in my lap calmly. That is, until she asked me to pass over her diet coke. I was so upset I refused to give it to her. Confused, my mother took her drink out of the cup holder and started to sip on it. I screamed almost in tears, “Mom! You can’t drink and drive! Haven’t you seen the commercials?” I remember feeling both terrified for our lives and a little like a convicted criminal. I was ashamed and frightened. My mother clued in of course. “Honey, people are allowed to drink pop in their cars. They just aren’t allowed to drink alcohol.” But I could not be reasoned with. It took her a long time to convince me that only certain drinks were not allowed near cars. I was certainly mistaken but I understood the essence of the lesson that distracted driving is, and always had been, dangerous.
So, what if we started thinking like our teenaged selves?
Do you remember when you first learned to drive? How attentive you were to every detail? You placed your hands firmly on the steering wheel at 10 and 2 o’clock. You always wore a seatbelt. You were a religious shoulder checker. Predictably, your driving skills have improved since and over time your initial nervousness blossomed into confidence and you became a successful driver. But, for some, it did not end there and for many the evolution of your comfort mutated into arrogance and then transformed, once again, into ignorance. No longer concerned over the details the ignorant driver takes shortcuts and these lead directly to accidents. Which is why, to some extent, I am more concerned over the experienced drivers than their novice counterparts. So, what is the solution? A compromise between our over-attentiveness and laziness: mindfulness.
Mindfulness is defined as bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis and if practiced this could be the answer to our problems. By learning to slow down and take driving seriously we could naturally liberate ourselves from the pressures of connectivity and as a happy result even overcome all those little distractions. It sounds simple, I know. But, are you up to the challenge?
Texting and Driving Counterattack
