Contemporary Driving

As having a brother currently enrolled in a driver’s education program as well as having gone through it myself, I now understand that learning how to drive at a driving school is just as important as going to normal school. During my experience as a driving student, I was enrolled for a half behind the wheel, half observing program. Most of the time when I was observing in the back seat, I realized that many of us new and young divers are not essentially bad or reckless, but just inexperienced during our learning phase. Sometimes, that inexperience is what causes the unfortunate collisions and the occasional angry horn. But most of the time, it is our cell phones. The reason why I argue that inexperience is not the main issue is because we have countless hours of experience before even obtaining our licenses. But cell phones are a whole other topic. In our contemporary society, we have all of these phone cup holders, phone stands, and ipads that are where the radio is supposed to be. The usage of phones is basically being promoted. On top of that our parents, who are our primary instructors on driving, tend to use phones while they drive as well. In fact when I drive around my area, I can see many adults using their phones while stopped at something like a red light or other times while driving. Because adults do it, us teenagers also think it is ok to do it as well. Although I do recall seeing a video on phone usage while driving, it was only a one time, 30 second video and it did not emphasize much. I believe the elimination of phone usage during driving is the very first step in safer driving. Another point I would like to talk about is speeding. As a teenager and high schooler, I hear many of my peers around me talk about their speeding adventures. One time I heard someone talk about themselves going 140 on the highway, and I am sitting there wondering why they would ever do that. I now realize doing something reckless like that is cool and somehow fun. Personally, doing something dangerous like that doesn’t sound fun or cool, because I know that one bad bump can completely screw me over for the rest of my life or even kill me. Eventually, I found out how this came to be: social media, especially instagram. On these platforms, there are people who post themselves going excessive speeds, doing dangerous maneuvers like drifting on the street, or even promoting this kind of dangerous driving. Since most of us are also glued to our phones and see this content, we believe that what they do is something that the rest of us should do. So the second step in driving safer in contemporary society is to eliminate promotion and the “coolness” of speeding and reckless driving. My final point I would like to touch on is driving while under the influence. A few months ago, I had a friend who was involved in an accident because of a driver under the influence. Thankfully he and his family were ok, but their jeep unfortunately wasn’t. It turns out that the other driver also had their license revoked for a previous DUI as well. On top of that they also tried to run as well. After hearing my friend’s unfortunate and horrible experience, I began to understand the immediate urgency on stopping drunk driving. The fact that many adults still drive around impaired like this is just pure insanity. To summarize this essay, driver’s education is important in reducing death by giving us the experience we lack. We can then even further reduce deaths related to motor vehicles by eliminating the usage of phones and driving under the influence. As a teen driver, I hear my peers talking about reckless and dangerous driving because of social media influences. I may only be a single high school student, but I can hopefully still prevent some future accidents by spreading awareness and possible solutions. For phones, we can get a locking compartment that will only open when the engine is turned off. To counter driving under the influence, we can mandate a device that will only start after breathing into a breathalyzer into every car. Finally to combat the promotion of reckless and dangerous driving, I can spread awareness on how that can be dangerous towards my peers themselves and the people driving around them. And all of this can be achieved through the promotion of safe driving through social media.