Teens in general are easily distracted and they have many more electronics to stimulate/entertain them than ever before. However, these distractions become deadly when combined with driving. “More than 9 people are killed and nearly 1,000 more are injured each day by a distracted driver.” (Steinberg, Goodman & Kalish 2019) There are some that argue that the driving age should be increased or have stricter driver's license requirements implemented. These are harsh restrictions that would cause many teens to not be able to commute to work or school of their choice. Yet, some middle ground needs to be found because even the most “minor” accidents caused by a teens reckless driving can still cause serious injury not only to the teen but everyone affected in the accident run the risk of being injured in a permanent way. “Whiplash and other neck injuries can occur following any motor vehicle accident, even those that are considered “minor.” While most individuals who are diagnosed with whiplash will fully recover, the injury has the potential to become chronic and cause long-lasting complications for car accident victims.” (Steinberg, Goodman & Kalish 2019)
Multitasking is commonly how these accidents occur. If we can decrease the amount of multitasking teens do while driving then we can decrease the amount of accidents that occur. “When you drive, you have to maneuver several different tasks at once. You need to ensure you abide by the speed limit while being aware of where other cars nearby are. When you adjust the volume or have a conversation with someone, it drastically cuts down on the brainpower you have for everything else. This is particularly important for teenagers.” (Steinberg, Goodman & Kalish 2019) But how does one go about that? I purpose every phone has a built-in app that has a ‘driving mode’. The driving mode can be linked to the teen's music app of choice (sound cloud, pandora, ect.) that the teen will set their music up before engaging in driving and after driving has begun the option to change music will be unavailable. However, the app will have easy voice commands such as “skip song”, “pause song”, or “turn music off”. The app will also block any incoming calls or text and simply put out an automatic voicemail or text message altering the person they are trying to contact that the person is currently driving and will get back to you when they are parked and safe. In case of incoming emergency calls there will be a feature however calls will only be able to last a few minutes in ensure safety. Teens won’t be able to access any of apps when this mode is engaged and it will work with the teens map app of choice (google maps, wazes, apple maps, ect.). Once the teen has reached the destination and parked the app will let the teen driver go back to using the phone as regular. The app would also be able to track the teen for their safety and parental concern.
This all sound good in theory but how to we get teens to actually use the app? The best way in incentive. A significant amount off the teen's car insurance per month as long as the app is used by the teen driver each time he/she drives. There should also be some kind of reward for if the teen happens to get in an accident if they app was in use at the time the penalty of insurance going up is reduced. Another way to ensure the teen is using the app is to be able for the parents to control and turn on the app if they believe the teen is driving. Since the parents tend to do pay for insurance, it would be more beneficial if they were also able to have some engagement of the app for their teen.
Essay by Lydia Morales