Name: Rosabella Cebrian
From: Wasilla, Alaska
Votes: 0
Many
drivers underestimate the factual level of risk involved in driving.
Ultimately they ignore the reality that a risk remains a factor at
all times even if it is not recognized or identified to be so. An
injury – to drivers, passengers, and/or pedestrians – could easily
become a repercussion; death being the worst. Drivers directly – as
well as indirectly – affect the level of risk at anytime on the road.
Thus, road users need to be aware that they place their lives on the
line, because according to AAA, most crashes result from driver
error. One cannot stress the reality that lives are taken away just
from careless driving. I have once been in an accident where I
thought my life would disappear.
Because
there is a high number of deaths (an average of 34,000 annually just
in America), drivers need to be educated to the fullest extent.
Thankfully, there are various approaches to decreasing those
threatening factors. Safety, physical skills, and mental skills are
the few necessary details pertaining to the knowledge of driving.
Safety
requires a road user to stay informed of traffic laws; it holds the
very foundation of driving. For example, an analysis done by AAA has
concluded that the chances of survival in a crash can increase by
almost 25% with seat belts. The lack of safety accounts for many
speeding, drug-impaired, and reckless driving accidents.
Physical
skill not only demands drivers to master basic vehicle maneuvers, but
to also watch for hazards. Another study computed by AAA concludes
that if a driver looks away from the road for only two seconds,
his/her chance in a crash doubles. Thus, drivers need to successfully
control their vehicle’s direction, acceleration, and deceleration
according to their environment under traffic laws.
Mental
skill involves the ability to quickly deduce good driving decisions
from bad ones. Distractions, such as text messaging, can impair a
driver’s mental ability. The National Highway Traffic Safety
Association states “During daylight hours,
approximately 481,000 drivers are using cell phones while driving.”
Drivers could easily decrease this number – thus the number of deaths
– by turning off their cellphones.
Driving
in traffic does not just include how to operate a vehicle; it
requires a firm knowledge of traffic laws that can be correctly
applied to driving alongside other road users. This establishes a
safe and efficient driving technique. For one, drivers could minimize
all distractions including cellphones, music, and passengers.
Secondly, road users can simply eliminate distractions by planning
ahead of time. Third, other means of transportation are available.
Riding a bike or taking the public bus, for example, can eliminate
many factors involved in driving.
We
as people should respect that we place ourselves and others at risk
when we drive. Careless driving exemplifies the worst: death. Driving
shouldn’t be taken lightly; it consists of conducting skilled and
properly timed actions under different road and traffic conditions
based on decisions based on retained information, realistic
perceptions, and good judgments.
