Name: Charli Purser
From: Orem, Utah
Votes: 0
Some
of the most unnerving experiences I have on the road are in a car
with a driver who is looking at their phone. It comes across to me
like a careless regard for my life, as well as the lives of others in
the car or nearby in traffic. People never “accidentally” text
while driving, “don’t have time” to put on their seatbelt, or
“just have to” change the song. All I hear when someone uses
those excuses is that they are prioritizing something superficial
over preventing deaths.
To
encourage people to drive safely in hopes of preventing deaths, I
would put out advertisements employing the tactics of compassion,
logic, and humor. An ad that evokes compassion taps into the natural
sense of connection that everyone has to the human family; logical
facts provide reasoning to persuade those who are common-sense
oriented and want to achieve a goal; humorous messages are the most
memorable, and therefore have a long-lasting impact. These messages
may be spread even further by word of mouth as humor is something
people intuitively like to share with others.
A
particular passion of mine is sharing information that promotes
people’s well-being; I have a dream to become a health teacher and
to change and strengthen the potency of health and safety education.
Rather than using fear as the main motivator, I think that showing
the powerful impact of following simple rules –as well as helping
students to find meaning and value in life– will make the greatest
difference. Those who are happy and already value their life and
loved ones will be easily motivated to follow the law by proven
research. For reckless drivers however, knowledge of cause and effect
is pointless if they don’t care what happens. People have these
needs: to know that they have value as individuals, to see the value
in other individual lives, and to feel hope that life is worth
living. Preventing death should be a matter of cultivating a greater
appreciation for the value of life.
I feel strongly that phones should not be used while driving because
I value life, and yet I am not immune to the electronic pull. My
biggest temptations when I’m driving are to answer a call that I
think is time-sensitive, or to look down at google maps to avoid
missing a turn. I need to remind myself that voicemail exists for a
reason, and that I can always come back the other way to make the
turn. To save a few minutes of time is not worth the risk of losing
decades of human life. A good practical solution to both of those
problems is to simply turn my phone face down and. Another way that I
am promoting safe driving is by teaching the kids I babysit the
importance of buckling up before I drive them somewhere. My goal is
for everyone to want to stay alive, and to make the decision to
travel safely to wherever they are seeking happiness.
