Name: Addison Mitchell Higgins
From: Evansville, Indiana
Votes: 0
Addison
Higgins
10-28-2019
Driving
is one of the most dangerous things, that most people do every day.
Thousands of deaths are caused each year from people who are either
uneducated, impaired, or inexperienced at operating a motor vehicle.
I personally have experienced many tragedies in relation to drivers.
I had a very close friend who died in a car accident earlier this
year which makes me have very strong feelings about driver safety and
drivers ed.
First
off, we need to have much higher ticket rates for driver’s who are
under 24. This will encourage teens and early adults to drive slower
and not run stop signs in order to avoid these penalties. This could
significantly help curb driving deaths relating to teenagers. Another
way we could prevent driving deaths is by enforcing and requiring a
drivers ed in person and not online. I know so many friends
that have found ways to exploit the online system and this just comes
with technology. High school students are some of the smartest, if
they want to get around doing something there is no doubt that they
will. But if it is required to be in person to take a course, there
is someone there watching and making sure that they aren’t
cheating.
In
addition, requiring drivers ed would educate people
significantly more because there are many people who simply wait
until they are capable of taking their driving test without needing
to take a course simply because they aren’t in a rush to get their
license and find it easier to just wait. This leads to many
uneducated and uninformed drivers populating our roadways and putting
others in danger.
This
next point is going to be a tough sell because I personally don’t
have every answer to how we could implement it but I do know it would
help. We need new drivers driving new cars. The way it works
currently is that the newest and most dangerous (generally) drivers
are the ones driving the least equipped vehicles. We have reached a
new era. Cars will take away control and stop you from changing lanes
if you are going to hit another vehicle. This is something that is
needed most by the nervous drivers that are new. Finding the money to
do this is the main obstacle but I feel that if car and insurance
companies where encouraged and offered incentives to give more
generous offers to new drivers on new safe vehicles, it would be a
start.
Lastly,
phones. While they are an amazing and revolutionary tool, they are an
enormous distraction. I feel that new drivers should be required to
keep their phone in a driving mode while driving and if they are
found without it this way they will be ticketed significantly higher.
Overall,
drivers safety is one of the most overlooked aspects of today’s
culture. People just aren’t educated about proper techniques and
safety precautions. They aren’t equipped with the proper technology
and aren’t punished hard enough for infractions. This needs to
change and it needs to change fast, before another someone loses
another close friend, or son, or daughter.
