Safety First!

Driving is the most used transportation over the world and in America. Without proper driving education, you wouldn’t see those numbers, and you would see even more crashes or accidents on the road. I just finished up all my license process and have been driving on my own recently and I can see first hand that if I wasn’t taught what to do in certain situations by my drivers education teacher or my parents, that I could easily be in accidents on the road. Driving seems like an easy thing to do at first, but it definitely is a major learning task, and takes a young driver a lot of time to adjust to the rules of the road and just react to what’s going on in certain situations. Now, sadly a major cause of death to teenagers is motor vehicle accidents, the only cause of death to the youth motor vehicle accidents are second to is Gun violence. Now, a major problem with this is how young drivers react to situations when they are close to getting into an accident, but even more of a problem is when the drivers get distracted and that is the reason they were in an accident. Driving education makes sure that we see and understand what it is like to lose a loved one to a car accident that could have been avoided. Teaching us what we need to know is extremely important, and educating students can save a driver’s life.

Now, multiple steps can be taken to make sure that drivers are safe when driving and making sure less accidents happen on the road. Precautions can be made for the car, with more air bag like features in cars so when accidents happen, the driver can be more protected. I think the most important thing though, is that people really need to know that distracted driving is the most dangerous thing you can see on the road. The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. That is an insane statistic, and 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving. My thinking is, is it really worth answering the text that you received, or calling somebody, when you could lose your life in a split second. What should be done? More instructors should really be focusing on making sure their students know how dangerous it is to be on your phone while driving. If someone is pulled over for being on their phone while driving, they should have their license suspended for a long period of time. Whatever has to be done to make the number of deaths of phone usage in vehicles lower, has to be done soon, as more and more generations can access more and more while driving.

Furthermore, luckily I have never been in a car accident while driving, I try my best to play it safe, and be a defensive driver. Although, I sure have seen accidents first hand and realize how dangerous driving can really be. I’ve seen how fatal some crashes are. I’ve seen cars on fire on the highway and cars that seem to be hit so hard you can’t even recognise it as a car. I have seen what driving under the influence can do to people, I have seen a family member in a dangerous scenario when they drove under the influence. It just makes them feel so bad and disappointed that they even got in that scenario, things like that are super dangerous and should never happen. I know that driving distracted and under the influence is really concerning, and will never do so. I would be too mad at myself to ever put myself in those situations, but more importantly to put innocent lives at risk.

I acquired my license only about a month ago and so far I haven’t been involved in any accident or have had any driving laws broken. I really find driving important because any mess up could be a life or death decision, hence driving safely is the way to go. Though no one is a perfect driver, including myself. I should be working on my speed control, sometimes I go over the speed limit a little too much, though I still make sure that I always check my surroundings. I can improve by just making sure I am driving at the speed limit by checking the speedometer more and just pacing my car with the flow of traffic more efficiently. Things that I can do to help others with driving experience is to show a good example and to make sure that my siblings and friends know that driving safely is the best option. I have 2 younger sisters and I want them to know that yes though I may be driving fast sometimes, and that’s what people respect, but that safety is more important. Saving lives is more important than driving for fun, and I want people to know that, drive safe to save lives.