Name: Meagan Gutheil
From: Greensboro, North Carolina
Votes: 0
Every
life is important and every person has the right to be able to live
their life. Although this is regularly agreed upon, people still do
not always think about others as they get behind the wheel. They just
think about themselves, where they are going, whether or not they are
going to be late, what type of music they want to listen to, what
conversations they are having, etc. They think only about what is
happening to themselves in the moment; they do not think about the
consequences their actions might have. In some cases, these
consequences can be deadly. Hopefully with more emphasis placed on
good drivers’ education, more awareness of other people, and a
deeper understanding of what consequences your choices may have,
deaths related to driving will drastically decrease in our lifetime.
Drivers’
education, more commonly referred to as drivers’ ed, is taken for
granted by teenagers. They sit and listen for a few hours after
school or on the weekends and think that they are equipped and mature
enough to drive and handle any and all situations on the road.
Teenagers think they are invincible. They see car crashes and
accidents on tv and think that this can’t be me. Nothing like this
will ever happen to me. But that’s not true. No one is invincible.
Without drivers’ ed, there would be so many more accidents on the
road because no one would know how to drive. This class teaches
people universal signals and rules to be followed so that everyone on
the road and even pedestrians are safe. Drivers’ education saves
lives.
Everyone
has heard the spiel on how to drive safely on a daily basis, but
people don’t really emphasize and discuss the little things. One
thing that can not be stressed enough is the importance of wearing a
seatbelt. During my drivers’ ed course, an EMT came and talked
about what happens when someone gets into a car accident. One thing
he said that has stuck with me all these years is that no one has
ever died from wearing a seatbelt. It literally takes one second to
buckle your seatbelt, but some people still don’t feel the need to
do so. They put their own safety at risk and set an example to do the
same for anyone else watching them. Another thing that should be
stressed is how to drive in different types of weather like rain,
snow, fog, and even when it gets really windy. Even though not all
areas experience these weather situations frequently, if even at all,
they should still be taught. People travel, they move, and freak
accidents happen. Nobody wants to be in a situation wishing that they
had been taught how to handle it in their drivers’ education class.
A simple example of this is learning about how when it gets cold
outside, you need to make sure you defrost your windows before you
start driving. It is extremely dangerous to drive when your
windshields are not defrosted because you can’t see anything. It’s
like you’re driving with a blindfold on. You not only put yourself
and your passengers in danger, but also anyone else on the road.
To
help people become better, safer drivers they need to focus on one
simple thing: awareness. You have to be aware of other people on the
road. You have to be aware of what’s going on in your own car,
whether that means the car itself or the people inside of it. You
need to understand that every single decision you make has the
potential to impact someone when you’re driving. Sending one text,
skipping one song, or even taking a sip of the drink in your cup
holder can have some serious consequences. Is that one little thing
worth risking your life, your passengers’ lives, or the lives of
the strangers all around you? No, nothing is worth taking a life.
