Importance of Driving

When I first pulled up the website on how to apply for this scholarship, the first sentence I read said how 34,000 people have died from car accidents, which is more than soldiers who have died in 2 wars combined. That stat really scared and surprised me because it really does show you how driving for some people is the most dangerous thing in the world. For me, I’ve been driving for about 2 years now, but I usually only drive around my home in Devine and to other cities close to me. I want to drive to San Antonio, but I always say to myself no because I’ve seen what it’s like there. There are always accidents, and you see on the news almost every day how someone might be in the hospital or dead from that accident and seeing that always terrified me. But I know at some point, I will have to drive to farther places to home and I am ready for it. But the importance in driving to reduce deaths is something we all need to do. Whether that is taking online drivers ed classes or just driving more on the highway are some ways that we can all do to stop people from dying in these accidents. Steps we can all take is first, if you don’t have a license for a permit, go take driving lessons and driving tests with a driving instructor and see how you do. I had my permit for almost a year, then I took my driving test 2 years ago and passed. One thing we can all do is something that I think is probably the main reason why these accidents happen in the first place, texting. Being on your phone while driving is probably the best way for you to get arrested or cause an accident. Just keep your phone either in your pocket or next to you and if you’re phone goes off, just ignore it. There are times for me where my phone goes off and I just ignore it and if someone is trying to call me, they will just have to wait. Also, drunk driving is something we all must try and avoid. Now if we are the victim of a drunk driver and we get into an accident, then that would be the drunk driver’s fault because he chose to drink and drive. We didn’t do anything wrong. Now, if we chose to drink and drive and we get into an accident and kill someone, then that is manslaughter and we get sent to jail, even though we didn’t mean to kill them. I still have another year until I turn 21 and then I can drink. But I’m smart enough to know not to drink and drive, and if I do drink, then I would have someone drive me home or just take an Uber. For me, I’ve only ever been in one accident with my family a few years ago where we got fender bendered by a driver who was falling asleep. I honestly got really scared because our car almost flipped, and we could’ve been in a lot worse condition rather than just damage to our car. None of my friends or family have ever driven irresponsibly, but my grandpa had a stroke while driving and thankfully, he only drove off the side of the road and hit a fence because the story I heard, it could’ve been a whole lot worse, but thankfully now, he is doing a lot better. For me to be a safe and better driver, all I must do is just keep my eyes on the road, don’t get distracted, don’t be on my phone, and to just know all the rules and signs when driving on the road. Also just getting a lot of practice out there in the bigger cities can really be a big help for you to get better. And for me, I must do that too if I want to be a good driver. But it’s not just me I have to worry about. I also want to protect others out there and not cause any accident to them. Not drinking and driving is my opinion the best way to protect others because there have been many victims of drunk driving when they didn’t even do anything wrong. I don’t ever want to get involved in a scenario where I accidently kill someone. Those are many ways for me to stay safe driving and not cause trouble.