Name: Regan Newman
From: Fishers, Indiana
Votes: 0
There is an average of 34,000 people in the United States that die
from vehicle related accidents. The solution to this problem? Drivers
need to be educated. And not just educated about how to drive a car,
but how so many other people’s lives are in their hands when they
choose to get behind the wheel of a vehicle and put themselves on the
roads.
Drivers ed is
important because it can significantly improve the number of deaths
that are a result of driving. There are many different ways for
people to obtain drivers ed. There are likely very many driver
education courses located in every state. If there are not physical
locations, there are most definitely online resources that people can
access to obtain a proper drivers ed. In the drivers ed
courses, I feel that there should be multiple sections that are
related to how to be aware of other drivers and their actions, as
well as pedestrians and other people outside of cars. Being a
defensive driver and knowing your surroundings as a driver is the
most important step to becoming a driver that will not put the lives
of others at risk.
Personally, I have
experienced an accident, and felt the impact of a family member dying
in a car accident. Two weeks after getting my license I was driving
home from practice in a snow storm and slid into a car in my
neighborhood. I was a new driver and not experienced or educated on
how to drive in the winter conditions. This experience put me at risk
of endangering someone else, but luckily, I was not hurt and no one
else was in the other car. Had I been educated on how to drive when
there are bad weather conditions it is possible that I could have
prevented the accident from happening. However, my cousin was not so
lucky in his experience with a car accident. My cousin Kyle was only
23 when he lost his life in a car accident. He had been out with his
friends at night and had been intoxicated. He and his friends felt as
if he was the best one fit to drive them home because he had not been
drinking very much. This decision is ultimately what lead to him
losing his life. My cousin was young, he had a life ahead of him.
There were so many things that he was never going to be able to
experience. His friends are the lucky ones, as they made it out of
the accident alive. I often wonder that had my cousin and his friends
been more educated on the effects of drinking and driving if this
result would have been the same or would there have been a better
outcome. Could my cousin have lived to see another day and learn that
drinking and driving is never a good idea and should never occur?
As a young driver
there are many temptations while driving. Checking my phone when I
hear a buzz, changing the radio station if I don’t like the song
being played, and having my friends in the car with me are all
obstacles that I face on the daily. I refrain from texting and
driving because I know that even if I look away for just one second
to look at a text that that one second could be a reason that I am
involved in a car crash, and the potential for ending my life or
another person’s life. To be a better driver, I will not look at my
phone while I am driving. To ensure that this happens, I will place
my phone in my glovebox so that it is out of reach from me and also
out of sight. If I cannot see my phone then I will not be tempted to
look at it. I will also make sure that my friends do not text and
drive while I am with them. Hopefully I will be able to influence
them to not use their phones while they drive with me so that it will
carry over to when they are driving alone. I can also start a
conversation with my friends and family about what it means to them
to be a safe driver and ways that they can work to not put their
lives and the lives of others in danger on the roads.
