Name: Jacob Bloom
From: Helotes, TEXAS
Votes: 0
As a fairly new
driver, I’ve had mostly good experiences on the road, but I’ve
also seen a lot of things that make me think the roads aren’t
always so safe! I’ve encountered people texting, talking on
their phones, girls putting on makeup, and other silly things that
can wait until you are not driving. I’m always amazed by some of
the things I see especially since I took Drivers Ed and sat through
movies about distracted driving and what can happen if you aren’t
paying attention to the road. Many accidents and deaths could
have been avoided if people just paid attention.
My parents have
always warned me about driving carefully and keeping my eyes on the
road. I think a lot of their worries are about the other
drivers because they’ve seen a lot of things happen and want to
make sure my siblings and I are always paying attention.
As a teenage
boy, I’ve seen some of my friends not always make smart decisions
when it comes to driving. I know of a lot of people who like to go to
parties and drink alcohol. They believe they haven’t had too much
to drink and will therefore drive themselves home. One of my friends
who is also 17, had to learn the hard way about drinking. He was
pulled over by a cop and had open beer cans in his truck. He was
given a DWI and is now having to pay the consequences of his poor
decision.
Another friend was
driving home and was in the neighborhood when his phone dropped.
He took his eyes off the road to find it and crashed into a utility
pole in front of a neighbor’s house. This neighbor came
outside and was very angry because 2 of his kids were just in that
spot playing just moments before the incident, but luckily, they had
happened to run to the backyard and get something. Had they still
been playing in the front, there’s a good chance they would have
been hit!
Another thing I see
happen a lot is kids at school driving really fast in the parking
lot. They don’t pay attention to what’s around them and just like
to speed! I think speeding is common for a lot of kids but can
also be very dangerous. If you’re not paying attention to all the
details around you when driving, there’s a good chance that something
can happen to you. There are many deaths each year due to
automobiles, and more than half of them are because of distracted
driving. To me, this issue is very personal because I knew someone
who died in a car accident. There was a group of 4 students
going to lunch during school and they were speeding and ran a red
light. Two of the students died and two were injured. I can’t
imagine having to live with the guilt of taking someone’s life!!
I always try to be
responsible on the road because I’ve seen things happen to my
friends that I would never want to happen to me or anyone else.
I think it’s so important to be a safe driver and I have no problem
telling my friends to pay attention to the road if they’re driving
us around. I want to live to enjoy my future so I will always do my
best to be a safe driver and remind others to do so as well!
