Name: Timothy Jay Fenton
From: Middletown, Delaware
Votes: 0
Timothy
Fenton
University
of Delaware Class of 2022
Driver
Education Initiative Award
Finally,
the moment you’ve been waiting on for years has finally come: you
passed your driver’s test. A brand new, shiny car is waiting
outside the DMV and with a driver’s license in hand, you know it’s
your time. You’re coasting on the freeway, twenty miles per hour
over the speed limit. The windows are open, sending cool air through
your hair and chills down your spine, as you blast the radio and sing
along to the hottest new song of the summer. It’s truly an
exhilarating feeling of freedom and joy. You’re so caught up in the
glory of it all that you forget you’re behind the wheel of a
two-ton SUV, barreling towards a much smaller sedan at a traffic
light. The next thing you know, your car is sent barrel-rolling into
the grass and the sedan which carried a woman and her two children is
instantly transformed into a tangled mess of scrap metal and glass
shards.
When
I was about 12 years old, my grandparents, four siblings and I were
headed home from camping for the week. Suddenly, the front left tire
of our Toyota minivan burst, sending us colliding into the median and
slowing to a sudden stop on the highway. If the 18-wheeler and the
rest of oncoming traffic behind us hadn’t been paying attention to
the long and empty Pennsylvania turnpike, our van could’ve been
plowed over, quite possibly killing most of us. Thankfully, we were
lucky enough that those drivers were being responsible and were able
to stop in time. Unfortunately, many drivers aren’t so lucky in a
situation as such, and often lose their lives because of other
vehicles tailgating and utter recklessness.
I
know how exciting driving can be for many, but we must remember that
these tremendous vehicles are anything but toys. Drivers ed
teaches us things like using a turn signal, parallel parking,
speeding up, slowing down and so much more, but the most important
thing we are taught is to be aware of our surroundings. The moment
you take a glance down at your cell phone while driving, take a bite
of your sandwich or think that “one beer won’t hurt”, you are
putting not only your life at jeopardy, but also the lives of every
other driver around you. Being properly informed about the
seriousness of distracted driving in an educational setting can
dramatically reduce the number of deaths due to collisions and other
kinds of accidents. Although there is no way to fully prevent
accidents from occurring, it is vital that each and every one of us
play our part and is informed on how to be a more responsible driver.
I know that I will continue to keep the phone away, my eyes on the
road and both hands on the wheel and will advocate for others to do
the same.
