All it Takes is One Person

Driver education is very important in reducing the number of deaths as a result of driving. Learning about the rules of driving, such as knowing who has the right of way at a stop sign or other intersection, prevents crashes from happening. Everyone should receive quality driver education because even one person not knowing what they are doing can cause a lot of damage and death. In order to reduce the number of deaths as a result from driving, everyone should obey the speed limit, have their full attention on the road, and never drive drunk. It is easy to speed especially when you’re running late, you may think a little extra speed can’t hurt. It does, the website National Safety Council says that in 2021 speed was the cause of 29% of all traffic fatalities. Along with this, not paying attention to your diving has also proven to be deadly. Drivers may be distracted by many things such as eating, using phones, and adjusting radios. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website says that from 2012 to 2021 32,000 people died in distracted driving related incidents. Having your full attention on the road prevents deaths. Another way to prevent deaths is to never drink and drive. “Every day, about 37 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes — that’s one person every 39 minutes.”(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). These statistics are shocking and frightening. I have first had experience with drinking and driving but I luckily got away without injury. I was driving to work one day on a highway when I noticed a truck swerving over the lines of the road in front of me. The vehicle would speed up and slow down a lot so I decided to pass it. I remember being scared the vehicle would hit me, but once I got in front of it I felt relieved. I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore. I was wrong. I entered a zone where the speed limit dropped from 65 mph to 50 mph, and I remember glancing up in my rear view mirror and seeing that same truck coming up from behind me and moving very fast. It was one of those times when you knew what was going to happen but couldn’t do anything about it, less than a second later the truck slammed into the back of my vehicle. I heard an awful smashing noise and my whole vehicle lurched forward. I was shocked, I had never been in an accident before and was not expecting to be in one any time soon. I pulled to the side of the road feeling confused at what just happened. The truck pulled up behind me and then drove into the ditch to get around me and continued driving until I could barely see him in the ditch aways away. I called my dad immediately because I had no idea what to do, so much was going through my head like why the truck would have driven away, and how am I going to get to work. As I was on the phone with my dad, I saw the truck get back onto the highway and drive away. My dad told me to call the police and he drove over to where I was on the highway to help me. My car was totaled so he brought me to work and went to look around town for the truck. I didn’t catch the license plate, but the truck was very smashed up. Later, while I was working my dad sent me a picture of the man driving the truck being arrested on a Kwik trip. He was three times over the legal limit of blood alcohol concentration. This was one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me, and I am lucky to have gotten away uninjured. I do feel grateful that no one else got hurt and at the very least my accident helped get a drunk driver off the road before someone died. You may not always be able to control what other people do on the roads, but you can always do your best to be a safe and smart driver. I know I can do my best to obey road laws and encourage those I know to do the same. Everyone has a part to play when it comes to driving, if everyone is educated on driving and following the rules the number of deaths would be much less. Unfortunately, at the end of the day all it takes is one person to drive irresponsibly to hurt someone.