My Driving Opinions

Driving is required in most places in our country today. There are so many problems and accidents that come from driving that could be avoided if we were taught better or just cared more. I have been in a car accident due to someone’s carelessness, and it has changed my life. These are my ideas on how we can make our roads safer.

I live in Colorado. We get snow here. In the past years we have had a lot of people moving in from places that don’t get snow. When winter comes, I see accidents all the time from them not knowing how to drive in the snow. I feel that we need to require people to take a course in how to drive in local weather. If it is a state that gets a lot of rain or snow, then they need to be educated on how to safely drive in that environment. When you are driving in snow you do not slam on your breaks, if you start sliding you let off the brake and gas and let the car naturally slow down, while the car is slowing down you try to keep yourself as straight as possible with small movements as possible to not cause the sliding to be worse. These are all things that people need to be taught and more.

Another change that I think should be made is that there should be fines for not using your blinkers. I constantly am having problems with people not using their blinkers, so I don’t know that they are trying to move lanes. It causes accidents all the time and I’m sure has caused accidents. People are so impatient and are only looking out for themselves, which also causes many problems. When people are only looking out for themselves, they speed, don’t use blinkers, get road rage, and it gets others in trouble.

I also believe that the driver’s test is too easy. We are letting people that don’t really know how to drive have a license. When I took my test, I drove through a single neighborhood that was empty and then I passed. I just had to stop at stop signs, look both ways and use my blinkers and then I passed. There is so much more to driving than this. For the drivers test you should have to go on at least one freeway, park, neighborhoods, and stop lights. It should be extensive and test all the skills that are needed in driving.

On August 4^th, 2022, I was in a car accident. The other driver was distracted and didn’t see the stop sign or our car. I was driving with my younger brother in the seat behind me. The other driver was going 50-70mph when she hit us. I tried to stop when I saw her coming, but it was too late. We rolled 3-5 times after getting hit. We lucky landed up right and were able to get out of the car. We knew I had a concussion and luckily my younger brother just ended up having some seat belt bruising. Three months later we learned that my back was broken. I have managed to be one of 2 percent of my type of injury that the bones healed but it still caused nerve damage and problems that will be with me the rest of my life. Before this accident I was a person who was constantly out dancing, playing sports, and living life to the fullest. After this accident I can’t really do anything. The list of things I can’t do is longer than what I can. As my friends were starting college, I was seeing doctors and healing. Even now I am still having problems, but I am not letting it fully stop me from living my life.

Since my accident I have tried to keep my phone off my body so that it can’t distract me. I also have been making sure to check what other cars are doing more carefully. I use my blinkers constantly. I drive at safe speeds and make sure I have pliantly of time to drive so I am not rushing or feel pressured to get someplace and drive unsafely.

There are many problems with driving and safety while driving in today’s world. We can change this by how we each act and changing a few of the guidelines and rules on who can drive. Our world can be so much safer if we just care for others and pay attention while driving.