Name: Amber Horton
From: Canton, Mississippi
Votes: 0
In
2018, an estimated 40,000 people lost their lives to car crashes and
about 4.5 million people were severely injured. Automobile crashes
are actually the leading cause of death for teens in the United
States. Specifically, about 5864 teen drivers, ages 15-20, were
involved in a fatal car accident which is about 6.4% of the total
drivers on the road. As a 17-year-old high school driver, learning
about these statistics is genuinely alarming, and here’s why.
I
thought that I was an educated driver, but the reality is that I, and
many other drivers don’t really know the dangers of driving. I
believe knowing basic safety rules of the road and actually
understanding the severity of how perilous it can be, could save
hundreds of lives. We should be trying to educate more drivers,
whether it be through school, driving lessons, social media, or
whatever other platforms because knowledge is power. It is also
important that we learn this information at a young age. Teen drivers
are probably the most uneducated drivers on the road which makes them
the most reckless and dangerous ones. Using this new-found education,
teens and adults will be more cautious and less likely to cause an
accident or a fatality.
Another
way to help eliminate the number of fatalities due to car crashes is
to reduce the use of texting and/or drinking while driving. The
National Safety Council reports that cell phone use leads to about
1.6 million crashes a year. Driving requires 100% full attention and
texting easily takes away from that. Drinking is arguably even worse,
considering it impairs your judgement, coordination, vision, and
reaction time, which are all key elements when driving.
When
you are behind the wheel, the most important thing is to consider the
safety of yourself and other people on the road. Before I even
started driving my mother would tell me, “Make sure to drive for
yourself as well as everyone else around you.” Looking back now
after doing this research, I completely understand why she said this.
A car can be a dangerous thing if you are not cautious or if you
don’t handle it correctly. Automobiles can seriously injure people
and its selfish to drive irresponsibly.
The
sad fact is, innocent people die every day to motor vehicle crashes.
It is arguably one of the most dangerous killers in America,
especially for our young teens. As drivers, we all need to be more
aware and take more precaution while on the road; not only just for
ourselves but for others as well. It is extremely too easy to fall
into the mindset that this could never happen to me or anyone I know.
As much as we don’t want to think about how fatal these crashes
are, we need to connect with the reality that these statistics could
end up being any one of our loved ones. For example, our peers, our
teachers, our mothers, our siblings. Or even worse, ourselves.
