The Time I Received A Speeding Ticket

Two years ago, on October 26th at 6:32 am, I received a speeding ticket. After all this time I have come to fully understand the gravity of my actions that day. I put countless others in danger because I thought being on time for school was more important than their lives. This is why I feel qualified to speak on driver safety because I’ve experienced the partial impact of it firsthand. As a consequence of my actions, I have gone through additional training to realize the effect that my actions could’ve had if I had not gotten caught that morning.

Driver safety was a focus in my driver’s ed training but it wasn’t held with the sense of seriousness that it deserves. The importance of education in this area can be life-changing, as it takes just seconds for a collision to cause injury or fatality. Comprehensive awareness and teaching on this subject have been shown to lower new drivers’ chances of getting a ticket by at least 75% and lower the driving-related fatality rate by 25% (“Study: Driver’s ed significantly reduces teen crashes, tickets | News Releases | University of Nebraska-Lincoln”). This shows that proper education on this subject can directly affect the number of deaths as a result of driving.

While I have never been involved in a collision, my mother has been involved in many. As a result of this, I have been able to see the impact it has had on both her physical and mental health. In 2016 she was rear-ended by a drunk driver, causing her back to be permanently damaged. This led to her being out of work for some time, the effects of which were felt by all members of my family. We struggled to scrape by as my mother was the only one earning income at the time and with three kids at home to take care of, things were rough. Now that she has healed and gotten back to work, things have gotten better, however, I know that she still feels the guilt of not being able to provide for our family how she would have liked to during that time. This was a very hard thing to see as her child. The whole situation felt very unfair because it was no fault of her own but we still had to suffer the consequences as a family.

While I’ve had a few bad experiences with driving myself and in my family it is good to know that many drivers are committed to safe driving. Some of the steps that diligent drivers take to reduce their chances of causing a fatality are being cautious and aware. In practice, this would look like a driver who is never on their phone, keeps their music to an appropriate volume, follows all the road rules, makes sure that they are not intoxicated, keeps their speed under the posted speed limit, and wears their seatbelt. These last three are especially important as the NHTSA states that they are the top three behaviors linked to fatal crashes as of 2020 (“NHTSA Releases 2020 Traffic Crash Fatality Data | FARS”).

After my speeding ticket, I chose to become a safe driver, as I was now able to understand the impact my actions might have had. This decision manifested itself in many ways the most important of which was making sure I was going the speed limit, as I do not need a repeat of the events two years ago. Another way that I drive safely is by keeping my phone at a distance and making sure that I have “driving mode” on, which enables me to drive without any notifications going off that might entice me to use my phone. This feature also locks my phone so that even if I were to pick it up and try to use it I would be barred from doing so. In addition to this, I have rules for any passengers that I might have so that I can remain distraction-free while driving. These include no loud music, no screaming, and of course no smoking because I am underage. In addition to this, I make sure to follow the road rules in my state at all times. I’m an Ohio native so that means no U-turns for me. I also preplan my driving routes so that I know exactly what type of traffic situations I’ll be in before I start my drive.

While I have certainly learned my lesson about safe driving I still try to prevent others from making the same mistake I did. Whenever I meet a new or even old driver I try to instill them with more knowledge about the dangers of speeding and what might happen to them if they do receive a speeding ticket.

In conclusion, safe driving is something very important to me, as I have felt and seen the impacts of it myself. I will continue to spread this message because I believe that no person should have to go through pain, financial trouble, or loss as a result of a car accident.