Christopher Lara Writing Humanities
Distracted driving, the practice of driving a motor vehicle while engaged in another activity, typically one that involves the use of a mobile phone or other electronic device has become an issue that according to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration accounts for twenty-five percent of all crashes involving teenage drivers. A study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety revealed that fifteen percent of reported crashes were due to a teen driver distracted by talking with a passenger. Another twelve percent of crashes occurred because a teen was either talking, texting or searching for information on a cellphone while they were driving. It is important for drivers to focus on their only task at hand, driving, because even though driving becomes a primary cognitive function, when drivers are distracted whether it is as small as using their phone or talking to someone, the areas of the brain that need to be activated to safely operate the vehicle are not.
Drinking and driving, driving with even the slightest amount of alcohol in your system can lead to harmful situations. Some drivers may not even show warning signs of being under the influence, but that does not mean it is any less dangerous, any form of drinking and driving is illegal and can lead to serious consequences. Alcohol reduces an individual’s reaction time, concentration, and vision. Based on data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there was an alcohol-impaired traffic fatality every forty-eight minutes in 2017. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates 1,017,808
drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics in 2016. The arrest rate works out to one arrest for about every two-hundred fifteen licensed drivers in the United States and according to NHTSA 10,874 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes in 2017. Alcohol-impaired crash fatalities accounted for twenty-nine percent of all crash fatalities. It is important to remember that when you are driving under the influence you are putting your life and the life of others at risk.
Speeding while driving, speeding is defined as driving beyond the displayed speed limit rate of speed or driving too fast for the road’s conditions. speeding endangers everyone on the road: In 2017, speeding killed 9,717 people, accounting for more than a quarter of all traffic fatalities that year. It is understanding for people juggle busy schedules which frustrates them, but speed limits are put in place to protect all road users. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), one third of all fatal automobile crashes involve drivers who were speeding. Speeding comes second to alcohol as the top factor in vehicular fatalities. Over thirteen-thousand people die each year as a result of accidents involving speeding automobiles. In addition the NHTSA reports that over forty-thousand people were critically injured in automobile accidents caused by speeding and over seventy-thousand were moderately injured and nearly six-hundred thousand suffered minor injuries.
The music video “Frozen” by Joyner Lucas raises the awareness to the dangers of distracted and reckless driving attempting to make people realize that something as little as a text is not worth your life or the life of another individual. Joyner Lucas is known to discuss controversial issues in his songs and he portrays them very creatively in his music videos. This is a plea to end reckless driving because the number of deaths due to distracted driving is on the
rise. The music video, directed by Lucas and Ben Proulx, provides a closer look at the accidents. In each occasion, the driver is at fault, whether it’s because they are texting and driving, speeding, or under the influence of alcohol. At the end of the music video, it’s revealed all three people are connected to each other. The girl killed in the first verse is the daughter of the young woman and the young man in the subsequent verses.
There are many influential artists that have made their works noticeable in the United States and maybe around the world, Eminem, Tupac, to name a few. There is one rapper on the rise named Gary Maurice Lucas, Jr. known by his stage name as Joyner Lucas, who at the moment has caused quite the talk with one of his popular known songs, “I’m not racist”. The song “Frozen” in particular deals with irresponsible driving and the possible outcomes of it, and his approach to how he put the story together and introduced it to the audience is outstanding in the video and very interesting to see. Some background on Joyner Lucas to prove how credible he is at raising awareness to controversial topics on the platform which is music. The rapper was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he started to rap at the early age of seven. Throughout his education, he was put into special ed classes for having ADHD, he calls it “solitary confinement” because he was taught as if he wasn’t smart and when he tried to speak out he was suppressed from speaking. In 2012 he released an album which included the infamous “Ross Capicchioni” about a true story of gang violence, told from the perspective of the victim and the shooter. Then during 2017, he made a song about the difference in perspectives with two different political ideologies and races in the video “I am not racist.” He uses his artistic ability to touch up on sensitive issues such as suicide, abortion, relationship affairs, being poor, etc. To understand the purpose of the song we have to see the settings of the video and how it progresses. So the
purpose was made to show the audience three victims of reckless driving in three different forms, drunk driving, texting while driving, and racing. The first two victims are innocent of these forms as they were victims of the drivers wrongdoing whereas the last one was guilty of his recklessness via speeding as he gets excited by the thrill of it as said by the lyrics. The purpose is to make the audience feel sympathy to the victims showed in the video and to put awareness to the audience how bad these forms of reckless driving can affect not only to the driver but to also the passengers since in this day in age, people will act reckless when driving and it’s been a recurring theme in advertisements and other promotional methods because it’s widely known, but the response isn’t enough since the statistical numbers seem to be increasing. From 2015 to 2016, there is a 5.6% rise in fatal crashes in terms of thousands then to a subcategory of hundreds from NHTSA data. The lyrics are in the perspective of the victims and their interpretation can be shown in the video as a way to have the audience convey sympathy. These victims are brutally injured, with their eyes wide open, and mouths moving in sync to the lyrics, and unable to move in order to portray them as dead to correlate to the titleof the song, “Frozen”.
For the first two victims, they talk about how they won’t be able to do what they love or what they usually do that they enjoy, but then towards the end of their verse, they tell what is the cause of their predicament via form of reckless driving that the driver was using. The last one victim talks about how he races for the thrills and how careless he was being when driving as if there was no price to pay for doing so, until the end he says, “Oh my God, I just died tryna race and drive”. So the first victim is a little girl, who died from a crash caused by her mother while she was texting and driving. As shown in the video, the mother is crying for the daughter in the whole verse to try to get the audience to convey empathy for the mother, as for sadness to show
sadness, from actor to audience. In a way, he is trying to make the audience feel sorry for the girl and feel sympathy for the situation at hand, but to have the audience reflect their actions if they did the same action that lead to this result said by the end of verse “No more kisses from my daddy cause I left and died All because this stupid bitch wanted to text and drive.”The second victim is an adult who’s blaming her friend for the crash because she was drinking and driving or under influence. She’s doing the same style of pathos in the first victim whereas she can’t do the things she wants or enjoys out of either indulgence or casual practices,“Now look at us No more comin’ home from work and cookin’ dinner for my man No more prayin’ for my sins, no more stuntin’ on the ‘Gram No more Thanksgiving holidays or pictures with the fam No more vacation plans to everywhere I’ve never been It’s all gone now Look what you did (look what you did).” Then he gave the reason for this so that people can reflect upon what indulgence caused this by stating “All because you choose to drink and drive Why?”
The last victim was racing in his verse, it’s the shortest verse out of all the victims, he explains why he wanted to race, as if he is looking for the audience that indulges in driving fast and against others like them, “I always been a one for challenges and different thrills Open alleys while I’m speedin’, that shit gives me chills Hittin’ corners, ridin’ fast and that shit’s really real My momma always said if I don’t chill that shit gon’ get me killed It’s too late,” while towards the end of the verse he goes onto the same style as the other victims to show regret in his own actions, “No more drivin’ reckless thinkin’ I won’t pay the price No more taking life for granted I just wasted mines”. Joyner is intending to target those that think they can drive recklessly without any consequence by using an appeal to emotion by making them scared or worried that at some point if you continue like this, you will end up like the victim being portrayed on video,
full of regret. Joyner shows that the first didn’t deserve to be dead by listing the things she can’t do anymore out of casual innocence, “No more hangin’ with my friends, no more ridin’ bikes No more brushin’ Barbies hair, no more flyin’ kites No more school, no more learnin’ for me No more youth, no more juice No more hula hoops or Suzy Q’s Wish I could kiss my momma bye.” Then for the second victim towards the end of the verse Joyner includes the fact that the victim has a daughter and an incoming baby as well as a way to include an appeal to ethics, because we value human life including newborns “No more tantrums and ain’t no more questions, no more answers No more homework with my daughter, no more second chances No more baby in my belly, sad to say wedied All because you choose to drink and drive.” This powerful video ends with a surprising plot twist and a very important message to its audience, “Drive safe.”
Works Cited
Lucas, J. (2018, April 01). Joyner Lucas – Frozen. Retrieved October 15, 2018, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Jvmt0vU4sLucas, J. (2018, October 10).
Joyner Lucas on Instagram: “When I was a kid I was diagnosed with “ADHD”.. they said I was aggressive, fidgety, hyperactive, impulsive, etc… they tried to put me on…” Retrieved October 15, 2018, from
National Center for Statistics and Analysis. (2017, October). 2016 fatal motor vehicle crashes: Overview. (Traffic Safety Facts Research Note. Report No. DOT HS 812 456).
Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.Thomas, F. (n.d.).
Joyner Lucas | Biography & History. Retrieved October 15, 2018, from https://www.allmusic.com/artist/joyner-lucas-mn0003558622/biography
