by J.G.
Has technology taken a turn for the worst, in terms of threatening the wellbeing of drivers and passengers on our roads? I believe that the answer to that question lies in the hands of drivers zooming up and down our streets on a daily basis. People who use their phones while driving annoy me because they are threatening their and the people around them’s safety, they are being ignorant towards statistics and proven data and because they don’t have their priorities straight. In terms of safety, distracted driving has been the cause of over 3,000 deaths and 39,000 injuries in 2015. Studies have shown that distracted drivers are 3 times more likely to be in a car crash when compared to attentive drivers. Studies have also shown that 26% of all car crashes involve the use of cell phones. All the evidence leads to the point that distracted driving IS NOT safe. It has been the cause of many terrible accidents and has terribly affected and permanently changed the lives of thousands of people - and that’s not counting all their friends and family. To use your phone while driving is voluntarily subjecting yourself (and those around you) to a horrible outcome that can easily be avoided. So, with that being said, why is distracted driving still a huge reason for the deaths of thousands of Canadians? That brings me to my next point. Studies show that amongst the 98% of drivers who acknowledge and are aware of the dangers of distracted driving, 75% have admitted to texting while driving. More than a quarter of them believe that texting doesn’t affect their driving, which is ridiculous - even drivers who look up while using their phones fail to process up to 50% of their surroundings - leaving plenty of room for accidents to occur. This proves that the root cause of distracted driving isn’t because of uninformed drivers - it’s because of their ignorance and dismissive behaviour towards the dangers of such activities. This angers me, because it proves that in today’s society, informed people who are aware of such dangers find themselves above that, as if these statistics don’t apply to them. It’s the mindset that “Oh, that’s terrible, but something like that would NEVER happen to me.” Of course it would never happen to YOU, because you have superhuman powers and 10 sets of eyeballs and a highly-advanced brain that can process extreme amounts of information both from your phone and the road at the same time, right? Right. If even half of the people who genuinely believe this would change their mindset, I believe that the number of distracted-driving accidents would decrease remarkably. While doing research, I have also discovered that people's’ justifications for texting and driving illustrates that their priorities are completely out of line. Forty-three percent of drivers say that they want to stay connected to friends, family and work, which is why they text and drive. Of course, Mr and Mrs Important, that text that they got while driving MUST be responded to right away. There’s absolutely no way it can wait another 15 minutes, right? That sounds ludicrous - the 2 seconds that those drivers take their eyes away from the road increase their chances of crashing by 20% - which means that there's a chance that they won't even be able to SEE their friends or family that same day. What if they have a child to come home to? An elderly parent that needs constant assistance? A pet waiting patiently for their owner’s arrival at the door? The time that they take to look away and feel that digital connection could potentially take away the rest of their lives and any real time connections that would have came with it, in just a matter of seconds. Think about it this way. If you’re on a journey to achieve a certain goal, it would be very difficult to accomplish that goal with distractions, because your full attention would not be on accomplishing that goal - it would be on your distractions as well. Like trying to get abs, while constantly storing some cake in your fridge. Sometimes, if the distractions are too much, you might fail to achieve your goal at all. When driving, it’s the same thing - you have the objective of getting to a certain destination safely. With a distraction like your phone, it’s possible that you won’t achieve your goal of getting their safely - or at all. And in the end, forget it if people don’t think that their own lives are worth protecting. If one individual is willing to do something so stupid and life-threatening to themselves, in the very end, it’s their own business. But it is utterly selfish to text and drive amongst dozens of other drivers and passengers on the road - because at that point, that one driver is no longer responsible for only their lives, but the lives of those around them. And to say that that is unfair to the responsible, wise drivers out there, is a tremendous insult to the definition of the word “understatement”.
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by Anonymous
I love the mall, I go there all the time, it's where I go to get away from home. I love hanging out there with my friends while looking at items I know I can't have like a couple of kids in a candy shop, but what ruins it all is when people think that the only ones in the mall. Like come on it's simple, pay attention. There are so many things to do at a mall in so little time. Usually it takes less than 5 minutes to get across the mall but there is always people who walk like zombies or like they're sleepwalking who make it 2 hours to walk from one store to the other. It's one thing if your a bit older or you have something making you incapable to walk properly but there are just people who are severely oblivious. There are also people that are walking on their phones, like you can't use it for 2 minutes while you walk. There's more to life than was on social media or the internet. don't even get me started with the couples who hold hands and walk slowly like it's the beach. You're not at a couples resort in Hawaii, your in a place where thousands of people are trying to get around you. Remember you are not the only one there, you're not the sun, not everything revolves around you. Not only is it really annoying when people are being oblivious, but its pretty dangerous for them too! It doesn't hurt to pay attention, but you know what does hurt, when you fall for being distracted on your phone. Do you know how many people bump into something because they are being oblivious, a lot. don't think anyone wants that to happen to them and it's pretty embarrassing too, when you fall for not paying attention. I didn't know people could not only be oblivious while walking but while sitting too! At big malls like Vaughan mills, it’s very busy. So if you want to eat at the food court you have to wait a while for a seat. I usually walk around the food court trying to find an empty seat and see a bunch of people at tables just on their phones not realizing that people are waiting to sit. I actually don't understand how they don't realize they are hogging the table. Maybe when you are actually using the table you can be distracted but when you are done, leave. How hard is it! There is so many people left to eat standing or on the floor because of these blind people using them for no reason. Whether it comes to walking, sitting or anything at a mall, just try this for once pay attention to what you are doing or people. If you don’t, people are going to get mad at you and you might get hurt, So stop being oblivious and just pay attention!! |