Name: Nicholas Paul Guerra
From: Clovis, California
Votes: 0
One
of the perks about becoming a teenager is the privilege to drive.
Getting a car and a driver’s license is one of the few key points
in life where one may feel like they’re one step on the way to
becoming an adult. Unfortunately, more teenagers are focusing on the
exciting new experiences driving may bring instead of the
implications driving has. More lives could be saved if more people
were conscience about their actions behind the wheel, and how it
might affect not only them, but others on the road.
The
ever growing influence of technology in our lives can lead to some
devastating outcomes. Most people nowadays want to share their lives
with others, whether it’s a video for Snapchat, a picture for
Instagram, their relationship status on Facebook, or a retweet of
something they found on Twitter that they feel must be acknowledged.
A great portion of vehicle related deaths are caused by the misuse of
technology while on the road. Although there are laws prohibiting the
use of cellular devices with reasonable punishment should someone
break these laws, they are not exactly effective, as huge numbers of
casualties are counted every year. To have more citizens at home
dying at a faster rate than the military fighting abroad is
ridiculous. I believe a way we can reduce the number of deaths
through vehicles, would be to import a system configuration where
many people’s favorite apps cannot notify the driver of something
on social media. Apple and Samsung already feature a, “Do Not
Disturb while driving” feature on their phones, however, that
doesn’t stop the driver from accessing the apps they wish to open.
To really utilize a feature like that, the feature should also
activate a “Do Not Disturb” on all apps, and only allowing for
phone calls and text messages to come through. This would lower the
temptation to check your phone while driving to see what’s
revolving across the web.
I
have been fortunate enough to not have been in a car accident.
Although I’ve only been driving for about a year, I have seen
accidents occur a good amount of times due to speeding and reckless
driving. I worry sometimes whenever I witness a reckless driver
because I don’t know if something’s going to happen to me or
someone else might become severely injured. And it’s scary to
imagine what might be.
There’s
a variety of ways I can help myself and others be safe drivers. One
of which could be to put myself or others in the position of both
drivers in an accident. Make them imagine how it would feel to cause
immense harm or even death to someone else, as well as imagine how
you would feel becoming injured and possibly rushed to the hospital,
to shed light and perspective on the matter. Another way could be to
point out mistakes that I observe, so that the driver is aware and
can work to correct them. There is the usual ignore your cellular
device to eliminate distractions and to frequently check the speed
limit. And of course remind ourselves of the rules of the road, take
a look back at the handbook if needed to. Implement the knowledge,
adapt it to our driving behaviors, and overcome the rising tide of
vehicular deaths.
