Buckle Up!

Buckle
Up!

An
Essay on Driver Safety by Madison Freeland

Car
accidents: A common problem that occurs in the lives of everyone,
whether directly or indirectly. If someone were to see it on the
road, they would most likely drive right by it, not exactly caring
about the event. Unfortunately, according to the National Safety
Council, this 2020 has an estimated amount of vehicle deaths, again
for the third time in a row, for over forty thousand deaths, and it
is quickly increasing. This, of course, is an extreme problem which
we as a country need to control. One major method is driver
education.

Driver
education helps enrich the minds of both young and old drivers as
they prepare to drive off into the world. Through this, many people
are taught the importance of certain driving hazards, such as
hydroplaning, and certain driving procedures to avoid causing an
accident, such as certain ways to enter highways or other major
roads. According to the Office of University Communications from the
University of Nebraska–Lincoln, “Young drivers who have not
completed drivers ed are 75 percent more likely to get a
traffic ticket, 24 percent more likely to be involved in a fatal or
injury accident and 16 percent more likely to have an accident”
(Lincoln, Neb.). This helps go to show that many lives can be saved
with a simple class that enriches someone’s knowledge on driver’s
safety. If it were a requirement to take the class in order to drive
on the roads, many lives would be saved, and driving would be a safer
experience for everyone. Even if it was not required, like it is now,
but it was highly advised to take and many more took the class, the
roads would be much safer and vehicular fatalities would shrink.

Besides
drivers ed, there are many other forms of reducing the amount
of fatalities in car accidents such as seatbelts, not using phones
while driving, and not drinking while driving. First of all,
seatbelts do save lives. According to Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention’s article on Motor Vehicle Safety, “seat belts reduce
the risk of death by 45%, and cut the risk of serious injury by 50%”
(cdc.org). This is a major amount of lives saved through one small
strap of leather. The mechanisms work together to restrain the person
during an accident to keep them safe from the majority of the harm,
helping reduce the amount of deaths caused in accidents.

Another
pointer is to not text while driving, or rather any other form of
using a mobile device while driving. While people use their phones,
it causes them to not focus the majority of their brain on the roads,
but rather their small screen in their hands. According to the
National Safety Council, cellphone use while driving leads to over
1.6 million crashes each year. If more people placed their phones in
the back seat of the car, or even gotten apps that shut off
everything but maps while they drive, they would be less tempted to
use their phone while driving, therefore reducing the amount of
accidents.

Along
with texting while driving and not wearing seatbelts, one of the
major problems is drinking while driving. Alcohol is a serious
problem that constantly causes problems while driving. The alcohol
takes over the brain and causes people to not think straight. The
overwhelming amount of alcohol sent to the brain can cause serious
accidents to take place. According to the Administrative Office of
the Courts, “alcohol is involved in about 40% of all fatal car
crashes,” and “alcohol-related crashes in the U.S. cost about $51
billion each year” (Administrative Office of the Courts). Not only
is alcohol extremely dangerous on the road, it is also extremely
expensive. Not drinking while driving would help many people from
losing their lives and would also save people a ton of money. If any
place is serving alcohol, they should have people check to make sure
people have a ride to wherever they are going. People could also
create an app that tracks whether someone would be drinking and
automatically send a car to pick them up, to ensure that there would
be no accidents caused by the alcohol-possessed brain.

I
personally experienced a car accident a couple years back while my
family was heading to the beach for our summer vacation. Our car was
packed and at the time, we had no head rests for the back seats. When
we were backed up in the usual summer vacation traffic, the car in
front of us decided to slam on their breaks, causing my car to do the
same. Unfortunately, the car behind us was hauling a U-Haul truck and
the weight was too much for him to slam on the breaks, so his car
slammed into the back of ours. This collision caused my head to fly
back and hit the plastic where the headrest would have sat if we had
it on in our car. The blow to my head caused our first trip on our
vacation to be a three-hour visit to the hospital to check to see if
I had gotten a concussion. Fortunately, it was not a concussion, but
being backed up in traffic is very dangerous. One should never slam
on the breaks unless needed, but if so, they should blow their horn
to notify other drivers. Sometimes, in situations similar to mine,
this is inevitable, but if possible, this should be a precaution.

As
a driver myself, I believe I should heed many other safety laws on
the road such as not speeding, or even not using my phone. I always
make sure my phone is out of reach whenever I sit in the driver’s
seat of my parents’ car. If other drivers continue to proceed the
careful warnings in driving similar to not speeding, not using their
phones, making sure they are wearing seatbelts, and even not drinking
while driving, vehicular fatalities will significantly diminish and
lead the roads to be a much safer environment for travel.

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