Name: Fernando Arcos Juan
From: Mesa, AZ
Votes: 0
Only
as safe as the person next to you
Driving
is one of the most important responsibilities that we get. Turning 16
is finally when we can drive. When we drive we are driving 2 ton
machines going at high speeds on the road. With such a massive
responsibility to bear, as teenagers, education is vital to get
safely home every day to our families. Education needs to be more
prevalent about these issues so teenager can know more about how to
drive safely and in turn lower accidents. There are some steps I have
come up with to reduce the number of deaths in driving. The first is
that safe driving tips should be more common place throughout our
high schools. When we are constantly reminded about safe driving we
will have subconscious thoughts to be more cautious while driving.
Media campaigns such as the anti-smoking campaigns around the country
should be a blueprint for safe driving campaigns. Showing teenagers
these statistics will undoubtedly promote safer driving habits within
student culture. Students also need to be shown the real life tragedy
of unsafe driving. Accidents take the life of people in the most
tragic of ways and that thought would encourage being safer on the
streets.
I
have been fortunate enough in my life to not experience being in car
crash. Although I have had some very near misses. Unfortunately some
distant family wasn’t as lucky. My aunt’s parents, brother and
sister-in-law were coming back from a day of family time when
suddenly they were all struck and killed in a car accident. The
driver who struck them was under the influence of alcohol and was
driving a massive truck. All of them, unfortunately, died on the
scene. My aunt suffered through massive episodes of depression and
still battles it to this day. Ever since that day I have been making
sure everyone in my family is a safe driver. It isn’t enough that
we learn how to drive safe, we are only as safe as the next person
driving next to us on the road. It doesn’t have be your fault and
you can be sent to the hospital fighting for dear life. It is why
education is so important. Education has to be more widely available
and consequences for bad driving should be harsher. While my aunt’s
relatives weren’t driving recklessly it shows that you don’t have
to be be irresponsible to get into an accident.
Some
steps I have taken to be a better driver involve mostly my
relationship with GPS. I’ve always used my phone’s GPS but
sometimes it would take my eyes off the road. While I’ve never
gotten into near misses while doing this I have taken precautions. I
now study the route before I go to a distant place and make sure I
dont peek at my phone in the dash for too long.
