Name: Grant Allen Parker
From: Canton, Texas
Votes: 0
Driving
is a right of passage. Your parents do everything with you until all
of a sudden you have completed your year of prison when you are 15,
and its finally time to step into the driver seat alone. The problem
with this is: people (especially kids) are often to focused on
driving all by their-self, driving fast, looking cool, etc. How many
people do you know get into the driver seat at age 16 (or any age for
that matter) and are worried primarily about safety? Most people
become comfortable with driving the older they get, and begin to
focus on other things while driving, such as texting. Being safe
behind the wheel is something that needs ti be addressed in America
today.
The
rules of the road are put in place for a reason, obviously. Most
wrecks are caused by human error. I am not claiming that
technological and mechanical issues do not exist, because the
definitely do. However, according to a recent Digital Trends article,
human error is the cause of 94-96 percent of all motor vehicle
accidents. That being said, there’s a lot of room for improvement.
Many of the wrecks caused by human error are because the driver is
uneducated regarding the laws/rules of the road, or the potential
danger that comes with distracted driving. Either way, increasing
driver awareness and drivers ed would drastically reduce the
number of fatal accidents, simply because considerably less accidents
would exist (notably the fatal ones).
There
are a number of steps that can reduce the number of deaths while
driving, and I believe that one of them is stiffer punishment.
Punishment provides incentive to do what is right, and with the
current regulations, plenty of people seem fine with breaking the
laws even when they know the consequence. If the punishments were
more severe, and more strictly enforced, we would see a major change
in driving behavior. Secondarily, I believe that all smart phones
should come with a regulator that doesn’t let you access your phone
should you be traveling at or above speed “x”. Now I understand
passengers may not like this, but until there is more advanced
technology that allows us to only block off the drivers phone, this
would simply stimulate conversation in an otherwise plugged-in
society.
I
personally have been in one accident. I was leaving school (on the
first day of my junior year nonetheless) and I was rear-ended by my
best friend… what are the odds? I ended up colliding with car in
front of me, and it all could have been avoided had everyone been
paying attention and following the safety standards set in place.
I
have plenty of room for improvement when looking at driving safety,
and I can start with paying more attention to the road, and less
attention to the passengers and radio.
In
conclusion, safe driving is a trait that should be adopted by all of
earths inhabitants, before it’s too late
