Seeing the Results

Thousands of
teenagers all around the world take drivers ed every year.
You heard that right; teenagers take drivers ed, not
adults. Although statistics state that sixteen to nineteen-year-olds
are the most likely to get into a car accident, every person is
vulnerable.

I believe that all
drivers need to take a course, not just teens. In my home state,
drivers ed is required only for students under sixteen who
want to obtain a learner’s permit. That means anyone sixteen and
over has no drivers ed requirement to fulfill, and what
makes this more alarming is that teens know this and are now waiting
six months until they are sixteen. Furthermore, in some states, it is
not required at all, resulting in safe, cautious drivers having to
share the road with uneducated, ignorant drivers, increasing the
chance of an accident occurring. For anyone, young or old, to obtain
a driver’s license, I believe drivers ed should be
required, with a minimum of thirty hours of studying.

Another step that we
can take to reduce the number of fatalities caused by car crashes is
to reconstruct the education system. Honestly, when I took driver’s
education two years ago, it was boring. It was not engaging, and I
quickly forgot much of the presented information. I believe that is
the way it is for most teens. Instead of sitting through a long
lecture, the courses should be full of interviews and testimonies
from people who were in car crashes. However, it should not be just
any crashes. It needs to be life-changing ones that teach. Teens
remember real life stories. Once we see something, it is impossible
to erase it. If teens could see, not just hear, the effects of
irresponsible driving, then the roads would become much safer.

A student that I
attend school with knows and acknowledges that he speeds and is an
unsafe driver. However, he continues to do it anyways. While he has
avoided his fair share of speeding tickets, he has earned some. The
first time I heard these words come out of his mouth, I openly told
him that it is dangerous and that one day he would get into a crash,
and that precisely is what happened. A few months after trading in
his SUV for a sports car, I received a text saying he was in a crash
and totaled his car, not to mention broke his leg. It is a blessing
that he is still alive, as it could and should have been much worse.
However, despite that, he still has not learned. As humans, we need
to understand that no one is invincible. We always need to use
caution and drive defensively.

As a high school
senior, I realize that actions speak louder than words. To tell
others about the dangers of reckless driving, I, myself, need to use
caution and brains to drive safely. If I do not practice what I
preach, why should anyone else?