I am getting old.
I hear your outcries, I know I’m not that old.
But I feel old when all the kids that I knew as babies are old enough to be getting their licenses.
Kids I once babysat. Three foot high smiling munchkins that would say hi to me in the halls at school.
Half of them are now taller than I am and they are making their way into the scary adult world.
These are also the kids that have a lot more distractions to deal with than I did when I was getting my license 13 years ago.
Who has not learned how to use one by the age of three?
Who does not have a cell phone by the age of 14 now?
Even without growing up with one, I know my phone is readily available and within reach all the time and I did not have to grow up this way for it to become a habit.
When I drive, my music is coming from my cell phone. All my calls come through my bluetooth.
I know myself, it is a hard habit to break to not be curious of that little ding that comes from beside you while your eyes are on the road.
Now these kids of the cell phone generation will soon be learning the lesson of staying off the phone while driving.
Some kids may learn this lesson harder than others.
In 2014 according SGI statistics, 24 people died in Saskatchewan vehicle collisions where distracted or inattentive driving was a factor. This would include distractions other than cell phones.
These are people of all ages and skills levels that suffer the consequences of distracted driving.
Not just young people who have yet to grasp the enormity of their newfound freedom.
According to SGI, as of Nov. 23, there are 53,326 licensed drivers in Saskatchewan under the age of 19. Of that number, 18,298 have a Class 7 licence and are new drivers.
According to a recent poll done by the National Post, 50 per cent of drivers aged 18-34 admit to using their phones while driving.
I spoke with the SADD group out of HCI last year about this very topic and even though they felt the need to discuss distracted driving with their fellow students, they did not think what they were doing was going to sink in with students.
Some SADD members even said that it would take some tragic accident in the area for young people to understand what could happen if they do not put their phones down.
To these new drivers, everyone wants you to come home at night.
So whenever you are tempted to reach for your phone while you are driver, ask yourself if that text message is worth your life. It only takes a couple seconds of distraction for something terrible to happen to you or to someone else.
No one wants you to have to go through that. Your family does not want to go through that either.
If questioning your own safety does not keep you from picking up the phone while driving, just imagine your family having to live without you.
