Be Aware of the Law

Zaiba Aftab

Driver Education Initiative Award Essay – Be Aware of the Law

• What steps can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving?

In the total three weeks of me working at a private criminal defense law firm for the past summer, there is one thing I learned about dealing with traffic violations, including DUIs/DWIs – a majority of those who received them were young adults between the ages of 18-24, at least in our geolocation. The attorney I worked for would get a lot of clients who had just begun college, who came in and struggled to fill in the legal fees in and out of the courtroom for negligent driving. Sometimes, just the legal retainer fee was $500, which is a lot for broke college students like myself. The heavier payments would come later. So, to avoid the expensive fees that feed into our lucrative criminal justice system, it is important for the youth to learn and follow the law properly. This not only includes remembering everything you learn in driving school, but keeping up to date with traffic laws in your county and state. But instead of going into that complex discussion, I decided to break it down to three easy steps on how to become a safer driver.

Whether it was being pulled over for using your phone while driving, or for a much heavier charge like a DUI/DWI, the reality of being charged with a legal traffic & criminal citation is something that never leaves the client’s driving record. That is why it is so important for today’s youth to understand that while being pulled over and given a traffic violation ticket is still a horrible experience to go through, it is much better than being involved in fatal car accidents. If they follow the proper steps to safer driving, they can avoid both of these roadblock issues altogether.

The first step is to always drive sober. If you are planning to go out to have some fun with friends after work or school, have a designated and responsible driver, carpool or call an Uber. It sounds like common sense, but unfortunately with the escalated number of inebriated drivers involved in auto accidents, it seems that this message has not been relayed enough back to the general and proper audience – our careless youth and plenty of irresponsible adults. No one is telling you not to have fun. But we are telling you to take steps to be smart and safe about it, so that you can continue to go out and have fun without having to bear the reminder that because of your negligence, someone could lose a loved one in an accident. Knowing that someone died in a car accident because of your irresponsibility is something heavy on your human conscience. Avoid it by being a smart driver and happy partygoer!

The second step is to not use your phone while driving. Do not text while driving, period. Want to listen to music? Hook your phone up to the Bluetooth in the car or via aux, or turn on the radio. Need directions? Ask the person sitting in the passenger seat to help navigate. Want to switch songs? Ask the passenger, or wait until you are at a stop light to quickly switch. Do not ever use your phone while your foot is on the gas pedal and the car is in motion.

Lastly, and this is the easiest of all, wear a seatbelt. You would be surprised at how much a seatbelt can help. For starters, it helps prevent extreme cases of whiplash. In the most severe situations, it helps prevent your body from flying forward and hitting the dashboard or the exploding airbag in the event of an accident. Even if you forget to follow the first two steps entailed above, wearing a seatbelt should be a regular habit for all.

Make sure to follow these three simple steps and you can prevent road rage and fatal accidents by becoming a better and safer driver on the road.

In all honesty, I believe one of the best ways to relay this message through the youth, especially those who are just getting their driver’s licenses or are incoming college freshmen who will no doubt be exposed to a variety of drugs and alcohol during fraternization associations, is through social media and videos. Everyone is on their phones nowadays and unfortunately not much of the youth likes to read outside of the required classroom/workplace environment. Therefore, the best way to communicate these life-saving techniques is through visual teaching – videos! Also, I apologize if the essay transcript required me to answer all the questions in one body essay. I interpreted it as just choosing and answering one of the questions, so that is what I did. I hope that does not disqualify my application.