A Necessary Change

A Necessary Change

On March 29, 2017, a pick-up truck driver crashed into a church minibus, drastically killing 13 people in a small town around San Antonio. The driver only had one thing to say which was “I’m sorry I was texting!” That apology never brought back the 13 people who were somebody’s mother, father, sister, sibling, relative, or even a friend. Yet if his actions were prevented and if this accident changed people’s perspective on texting and driving then maybe the 13 lives lost that day would not go to waste. 

Being the 47th state to pass distracting driving laws, Texas has been incrementally slow at realizing the importance of road safety and the rules of distracted driving. We always hear about stories about people texting and driving, where they almost lost their lives or the AT&T and T-Mobile advertisements on how to stop and the fact that we need to pledge to stop texting and driving, signifying the importance of these safety precautions In 2017, Texas passed laws prohibiting texting while driving and in 2018, there were approximately 95,572 accidents that were listed as distracted driving cases or accidents. Even with the laws passed, it has not made a notable change or moving progress. I was reading through the current laws in an article discussing Texas’s laws and realized that they were not terrible but unfortunately, the statistics for cases continue to increase which calls for more strictly enforced laws. 

Driving and Texting has also lost many lives throughout the years and became an even higher trend among the recent years especially for teenagers. My close friend has been a victim of this trend. Recently, he got into a car crash where he was on his phone and texting while trying to change music and became unaware that his foot was not on the break. As soon as he was nearing the stop sign, he hit the acceleration instead of the break which caused him to hit a truck in front of him and slightly damaged the sides of both vehicles. This incident has caused him to realize that when driving, your full focus should be on driving and nothing else. In addition, he understands the extremity of the situation that a person could be a mom, a dad, sister, brother or merely a friend to somebody else that could have potentially lost their life because of his small mistake. This also caused him to realize that his own life could have been lost due to his mistake and the rest of his life could have been taken away because of a small mistake. In addition, my dad recently experienced this by being the victim of somebody else texting and driving. He was on the highway following all driving laws when a person was speeding as well as texting and hit the right side of his car causing the entire car to spin around in the middle of the highway. We thank god every day that the car was totaled and that he was not injured. This hit and run case also caused us to be incredibly careful whenever we go on drives as you can never depend on another person’s for keeping you safe but only look out for yourself. I have personally learned that this situation could potentially cost me my family and my loved ones and that you truly never know when you could be saying goodbye to them even when they are driving one mile down to the nearest grocery store or across the street to buy me a drink. A mistake that another person makes will have a significant impact on you and could cost many lives and their own one day. In this world today, you can never truly depend on somebody else to drive safely in order to ensure your safety, but if everybody were to look out for themselves and each other, less lives of teenagers and adults would be lost.

Every week we the people, personally, have seen many accidents occur in the cities at different intersections because of the red light on the right turns. In order to keep our cities safe, there needs to be a proper signal on the right turn rather than just assumption by a drive to turn right on a red if there is no oncoming vehicle. This simple change could have saved so many lives of families, the teenagers, as well as a man and could potentially save the risked lives from these accidents at a simple intersection. In order to avoid these accidents, it will be a matter of a simple sign that states “No right turn on red” at every intersection. This could stop the distracted drivers and serve as a precaution that just in case they were on their device, they would use the red or green light to make the turn rather than distractedly make a turn which ultimately results in an accident.  In addition, there have also been many cases of drunk drivers who crash into other drivers, houses, and fences. In this case, a small patrol could be helpful in saving lives. As simple as every 5 or six intersections during the late-night, there should be placed a police officer that could do a breathalyzer test on the driver and make sure they are driving safely. This small addition could save the lives lost to drunk drivers or drunk drivers that lost their lives due to their own mistake. Another small addition which could be added to my city or even any other city would be the placement of sidewalks on the fields. As a pedestrian walking, there are times where we have to pick between the grassy field or the road itself rather than a small sidewalk. If a small, thin sidewalk was placed in these fields going through it, it could save the people from germs, possible snakes, and even prevent risking their lives on the street because we never truly know what driver is drunk, texting while driving, or not paying attention to the walking pedestrians. This could also save the driver from making a careless mistake if he were to be using his cell phone as the innocent pedestrian would not be cost their lives for a simple mistake of types a text message. 

These small, yet very promising changes, will allow for a safer community whether it be bike riders, pedestrians, drivers and even little kids and we would not have to worry about the drivers who could possibly be distracted.  It could promise them safety when driving and not having to worry about other drivers and only focus on their own careful driving rather than constantly looking over their shoulder to see if a driver is swerving their car or if there is someone speeding down the road. Although these might not be changes in the laws and might be somewhat costly, it could ultimately lead to a better tomorrow in the lives of people and who knows, it could save the lives of many teens, adults, and kids. The only thing me or any person could do in this case is to stop it when we see it in our family members or friends, raise awareness, and call out immediately. Using drivers ed is one way to spread awareness as instructors could repeatedly remind the students that are in the process of learning with statistics. Drivers ed plays a major issue because it solves the problem of people just assuming whether a law is in place, whether they should make a turn on a red, or whether they are putting their lives at risk. It also helps people realize the risk factors such as speeding, avoid risk if cars around them are driving distractedly, and mainly how to safely drive in order to keep our streets safe. If more people are educated about these risks, it could help save many lives and eliminate the daily risk that haunts our streets.