Buckled Up?

Kira Scott

Buckled Up?

Sirens blaring, lights flashing, people crying. That is the sound of yet another crash, another irresponsible, uneducated driver at fault. Someone’s mother, father, sister, or brother may have just died, but no one seems to care; their life becomes another number added to the total of annual vehicular deaths. Change needs to happen. With an increase in driver education, the number of lives lost yearly would decrease significantly, making our roads safer, so our family members can live to see another day.

Preventable mistakes forged at the wheel lead to deaths in car crashes annually, such as texting, drinking, smoking, or not fastening a seatbelt. Although it may not feel common, mistakes happen within everyday life, and in a flash of a second, a life-altering incident could occur because of them. For example, I was driving to lunch one day, something I do every day without much thought, but that day was different. The girl driving her 2002 Honda Civic behind me decided to put others’ lives at risk by texting and driving. The girl hit me while I was stopped; she totaled her car and damaged mine severely. I got away with minor injuries, but not everyone is as lucky as that. Millions of people die yearly from poor driving.

Unfortunately, approximately 1.3 million people die yearly in crashes (Beltz, Brian). Driver education courses aim to decrease those statistics. These courses aid in giving soon to be drivers or current drivers a deeper understanding of the implications behind driving. These courses increase people’s knowledge and cautiousness when getting behind the wheel. Education courses discuss numerous ways to decrease the amount of accidents yearly. Steps such as turning off your phone while driving, observing traffic laws and signs with more care, as well as choosing to never get behind a wheel when under the influence are all things that are taught within these courses, and should be followed when driving. One step that fellow drivers could take, along with myself, to be safer when driving would be to turn off our phones and be more alert with our surroundings. That alone could decrease a significant amount of texting and driving-related accidents. Everyone and anyone can make the road a safer place by educating themselves and applying even just one form of knowledge and preventative action to their daily driving activities.

While many of us feel we are great drivers and have the mindset that “It will never happen to me,” it most certainly can. One small mistake could end a life, and whether that be a distraction, drugs, peers, or alcohol, we never know what will occur, so we must take precautionary steps just in case. Drivers education courses aid in this significantly. By educating ourselves on the importance of safe driving and applying just one skill to our daily driving, we could decrease the mortality rate associated with driving and make the roads a better, safer place.

Works Cited

Beltz, Brian. “100+ Car Accident Statistics for 2020 [updated].” Safer America, 25 October 2018,https://safer-america.com/car-accident-statistics/#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%20roughly%201.3%20million%20people%20die%20in,th%20leading%20cause%20of%20death%20for%20all%20people . Accessed 18 November 2020.