Drive Alive

DRIVE
ALIVE

As
a sixteen year old teenager in America I am now eligible to be a
permit driver. In my hometown there are a lot of fatal car accidents
annually due to reckless driving, driving under age, and driving
under the influence. Knowing how to drive could save not only you but
potentially someone else. When you are driving, you have to remember
that you are not just driving for your safety but the safety of
everyone else. Everyone cannot be a perfect drive but if everyone
knew the basic standards of drivers ed we could cut down the
number of fatal victims in car crashes annually. A study which
followed over 150,000 teenage drivers over an eight year time period
has concluded that drivers ed significantly decreases
crashes and traffic violations among new drivers. Younger drivers who
have not successfully completed drivers ed are 75 percent
more likely to acquire a traffic ticket, 24 percent more likely to
get involved in a deadly or injury accident and 16 percent more
likely to end up in an accident, the study showed.

As
this generation continues to develop, technology seems to keep up at
a steady pace as well. A lot of fatal accidents involving vehicles
are caused just by victims not wearing seatbelts which oftens causes
passengers to be ejected from the vehicle through the windshield,
especially in head to head collisions. There should be a minimum
requirement that in order to move or operate your vehicle a seatbelt
must be active on the driver or passenger in the vehicle and if for
any reason it is removed while in operation the vehicle is
automatically put in park and in hazard mode. This installation in
vehicles will significantly reduce the number of fatal car accidents
all together.

I
personally have been in a minor car accident before and even though
nobody involved was injured severely there was extensive damage.
There was a long exchange between insurance information between the
two drivers and the police had to be involved and determine a
conclusion before letting everyone leave the scene. In short
conclusion, the whole event was time consuming and could have been
avoided if the driver had been careful and been paying attention to
the road.

There
is a long list of ways in which I can help better myself and others
become a better driver. I can tell others about situations I have
acquired while being on the road and experiences of others on social
media to potentially enlighten young drivers why safety behind the
wheel is an important aspect to have. My issue is paying attention to
the road due to constant distracting from my phone so I will leave my
phone in the backseat while driving forcing me to have no choice but
to focus on the road. I want everyone to know that one message is not
worth eternal death or putting yourself in harms way, and if it is
you should not be driving.