Life or Death

Aashvi Patel

Life or Death

Getting your driver’s license
is probably the best feeling a teenager will ever experience. The
smell of freedom and a flood of emotions will fill your mind. A rush
of excitement falls over your body, “I can finally go out with my
friends!”, but these adventures come with a price. A price you have
to be willing to pay, when you sit in the driver’s seat for the first
time.

As of 2018, there have been
2,476 teenage deaths in the United States. This shows that driver
education should be taken very seriously, not only in the U.S., but
worldwide. Through drivers ed, teens can learn first hand about
basic driving rules. This is necessary because many people can be
influenced by their parents driving. From personal experience, I know
that I’ve witnessed my parents talking on the phone while driving.
Phone calls while driving can be extremely dangerous, as it is now
against the law in Illinois, because of the increased danger. As a
result of being provided with driving simulators, teens will be
easily able to learn first hand about the ways of proper driving.
Drivers ed can teach teens what mistakes not to make and how to
prevent crashes that may end up taking their own lives.

I believe that in order to
reduce the number of deaths tied to driving, we as a community have
to raise awareness of the amount of innocent lives that have been
taken, due to reckless driving. This way, communities can come
together and find a solution to prevent teens from possibly losing
their lives. By putting up signs around the community about the
number of deaths related to teen driving, people will understand the
need for drivers ed. Another great way to prevent innocent
lives from being lost, is to have an app on your phone to turn on
while you’re driving. This way, whenever anyone tries to use their
phone while driving, it will restrict them from doing so.

Personally, I have
experienced family members talking on their phones while driving and
have not only risked their lives, but also the passengers. On one
occasion specifically, my mom was driving while talking on the phone,
I was young then and didn’t think much of it. Now when I look back
at it, I could’ve lost my life because of one small mistake from
the driver not being fully engaged while driving.

All in all, as a teen myself,
I think it’s safe to say that I’ve had my fair share of mistakes
while driving. But through those mistakes, I learned what I needed to
do to become a better driver. Although this may sound cliche, the
only way to gain knowledge, is to learn from your mistakes. One thing
that I will always keep in mind while driving, is to always think
before my actions. Whether this be with my friends or family in the
car with me, or alone, it’s a matter of life or death.