Changed in a Second

“From One Second to the Next,” filmmaker Werner Herzog’s documentary about the fatal effects of texting and driving, may be the most powerful film I have ever watched whether a documentary or fictional. I say with no exaggeration to you that it has changed my life, my attitude, and my lens of the world.

I found tears running down my face throughout the film for my fellow humans. They were tears of compassion for the victims and for their families who now had to adapt to their new, heartbroken realities after losing a loved one or having them permanently injured. Other times they were tears of compassion for even the drivers that killed people from their texting as they expressed their remorse for what they had done and how they were now dedicated to do as much good as they could with the life they had left. Other times they were tears of sadness for how crazy and far gone we have gotten as a society. How not just our texting and driving but our speeding and road rage has become more important than the safety of those around us.

And I confess I even thought to myself that it could have just as easily been me that hit or killed someone with my car when I have texted while driving in my life or have used my phone in general while driving. I reflected on how dangerous my other reckless behaviors in my decades of driving have been from speeding to running red lights to fiddling with the radio to flipping someone off to looking at wrecks to sight-seeing while driving. You know all the little things that we do where we take our eyes off the road or do something stupid for just... just a second. It will be okay we say. Nothing’s going to happen...

Look, none of us are saints. Except for a few Mother Teresa’s of the road, a great majority of us have been distracted with our phones while driving in various ways in our lives. And we all have done foolish and reckless things while operating our high-speed, multi-ton vehicles. This was time with our eyes off the road. “From one second to the next” with your eyes off the road, anything can happen. And much of the time, what feels like “just a second” to us is much longer than that. Five seconds with your eyes off the road is an eternity. The scary truth that I realized, that dragged me out of my slumber, is that what the drivers in this film did could have been done by any one of us.

One part that really struck me was when one of the drivers admitted that he felt when it came down to it at the time, he thought his being on the phone was more important to him than the safety of others, more important than the lives of the two men he killed. Whether we understand it or not (maybe we don’t fully understand it, maybe we need films like this to show us the real consequences and how we have been driving like zombies at the wheel), each time we fool around with our phone in any way and take our eyes off the road, we are making the decision to put someone else’s life in danger. This goes not just for phones though. This goes for messing with the radio, tailgating, speeding, road rage, goofing off, etc. We irrationally think in our self-centeredness that we are more important, as well as foolish thoughts like “that will never happen to me” and “I’m the safe texter and driver, and everybody else isn’t.”

I’m not on my high horse with this. I’m guilty of these bad behaviors while driving too. At some point in my life or another, I’ve done most of them. But after watching this film, I was left with the simple fact that I can never touch my phone while driving again. I can never be reckless while driving again. Why? Because my eyes have been opened to see that by making these actions I am willingly making the choice to allow the possibility that something fatal might happen to someone else just like what happened in Mr. Herzog’s documentary. I refuse to do that again. I have a choice. I have a responsibility. Every time I start up my car, I have a responsibility to the safety of those around me.

Will I slip one day and forget and do those stupid things again? Since humans make mistakes, and I’m human, it’s possible, but, God, I hope not. I believe the sight and humanity of those families, the photos of the wreckage, and the stories will stick with me for the rest of my life. I think that was perhaps Mr. Herzog’s purpose in making this film. To pull our heads out of our butts and say, “Here... Look... This is what happens. This is what can happen if you continue to do this and willfully make these decisions. Don’t ever forget this.” My response is that I love my fellow neighbors in this life. I cannot do this anymore. If I have any soul, I cannot. I want to live my life from this day forth protective of everyone on the road while I’m driving. These days sadly we drive like everyone around us is our enemy instead of driving to protect one another.

We can all agree that texting while driving is horrible, but it’s not real enough to take it seriously and stop doing it for good until you have been affected by it personally or maybe until you have witnessed something like in this film. Something that will snap you out of your trance. Herzog wanted to wake us out of our trance, make us look at ourselves in the mirror, and commit to changing our actions out of love.

We are human though, and we forget and revert to our old habits. Maybe this is a film that we all need to revisit every couple of years or so. We only go to driving school once in our lives and, maybe if we have traffic violations, we take defensive driving. I wholeheartedly believe watching this documentary as a requirement of renewing one’s driver’s license would save countless lives. This half-hour film is as effective as any driving school safety video.

If I were to make a film on the dangers of texting and driving before seeing this, I think I may have been more graphic with the imagery and more intense with showing the consequences, but after seeing Herzog’s work, I do not believe that was the right answer. His tone, the things he made you witness, and what he left to your imagination were perfectly chosen for the emotions that needed to be felt. You had to be made to care for the victims and their families and be taken into their world. You had to go on the journey to forgive and care for the perpetrators. You had to come to the realization that it could have easily been you that did this. You had to realize that they (the victims, their families, and their perpetrators) are all normal people like you and me. In the end we really aren’t all that different.

I think YouTube is the perfect platform for this documentary. It should be able to be easily shared for the rest of time. I would like for it to be shown on mainstream news programs, and I love that this documentary has been supported by major corporations. The problem is that it is not easy to convince a friend or family member to watch something like this. As humans we do not want to be lectured. Most of us “can’t be bothered” or “just want to relax at the end of the day” or we “already know the dangers of texting while driving and don’t need to see it.” Getting someone to watch this is challenging. For this reason, I do not believe a paid venue is the right place for this documentary. I think it should be promoted as “watch this if you want to learn to love your fellow neighbor” and “watch this if you want to save lives” to get someone to click on it on YouTube and social media.

I will admit though that I did not voluntarily watch this film. I watched this documentary because I had to. I am not sure if I ever would have sought it out otherwise or would have ever clicked on it if I saw the link. But I am so grateful I did watch it. It changed my life for the better. I know I will be a kinder and safer person, not just while driving but when around others in all my life. Watching this could have caused me to not have an accident in the future. Herzog’s film has probably saved lives. I have no doubt. If he just stopped one accident or saved one life, then his film has succeeded.