Name: Mitchell Frey
From: West Lafayette, Indiana
Votes: 0
The old adage goes something like, “give a man a fish and he will
eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of
his life.” A more suitable version for modern America could be
“give a man a ride and he can go one place, teach a man to drive
and he can go almost anywhere.” Since the American highway system
was expanded during the Eisenhower administration, millions of people
have realized the convenience of being able to drive nearly anywhere
in the country, and have learned to drive as a result. But who is
responsible for making sure these people are able to safely take to
the roads? Drivers ed teachers are the ones who must teach
their students not only the written rules of the road, but they must
also show their pupils how to properly and safely operate a motor
vehicle in the hopes that when the new driver is authorized to drive,
they will be able to safely acclimate themselves with driving.
However, even in a nation of educated and experienced drivers,
accidents are unavoidable, but crashes are not. In order to more
effectively prevent tragedy on the roadways, lawmakers must enforce
more strict penalties for unsafe driving habits, such as distracted
driving or driving without a seatbelt. One possible way of making
sure drivers follow the rules of the road is to have more police
observing traffic and writing tickets. Another way could be to make
tickets more expensive or to revoke people’s licenses after minor
offenses, causing people to drive more safely to avoid fines and to
keep their licenses.
Unfortunately, I have had the experience of being in two car
accidents, both times as a passenger in the car which was struck by
the other. Thankfully though, nobody was hurt in either accident, so
they have served more as experiences to learn from rather than
experiences to be afraid of. In both circumstances, the accidents
were caused by the other driver being distracted by either technology
or other people in the vehicle. My past experiences coupled with
constant reminders from my parents to avoid distracted driving has
resulted in my effort to remove all distractions from my vehicle
while driving, whether it be placing my cell phone in a place where
it is inaccessible when the car is moving, or keeping the radio to a
low volume to avoid distraction. I cannot make other people change
the way they behave, but by setting a good example and driving
safely, hopefully I can influence others to drive more safely and
think of others while on the roadways.
