Name: Lainey Ann Willis
From: Roachdale, Indiana
Votes: 0
As we all know,
quite tragically, this world is simply full of stupid people. Common
sense is not as common as it once was and in my opinion to each their
own, but I can’t sit by and let people make stupid decisions on the
road. This is why drivers ed is so important. Even if stupid
is abundant in this world the cure is even more abundant, Education.
If we educate these people about road safety and show them the
statistics in a way that will really make them care then car related
deaths will decrease. A dumb decision is a lot harder to make when
you know what will happen if you make it. We can’t just tell people
the statistics though. We have to make them care, get them invested,
include stories about real people who have been in accidents, let
them meet survivors. Many people don’t take these things seriously
because it’s so easy to think “Oh that will never happen to me,
that happens to other people, fake people, only on the news.”
However, we all know that’s not true, it could happen to anyone and
we need to show people that. We need to show them just how close that
threat is at any given time. Last year, in my school one of our
students was goofing around on a back road with some friends. They
were on their way to football practice. He never made it to that
practice. They were going too fast and flipped the vehicle. The other
two boys in the car survived but He did not. This event shook our
community to its core. Car accidents were things that happened to
other kids at other school not our star football player. Yet it
happened all the same. Ever since then I don’t think our roads have
ever been safer. Very few people in our community make dumb decisions
while driving any more. No one wants to end up like him and no one
wants to disrespect his family by driving like an idiot. Personally,
ever since that accident, I’ve been hyper aware of the road anytime
I’m in a car. I always wear my seat belt and refuse to leave until
everyone in my car has a seatbelt on as well. I don’t get on my
phone, I leave early so I won’t be in a rush and I drive much slower
in bad weather and much much slower on back roads. Whenever I’m a
passenger I take driver’s phones and type for them, I make them wear
their seatbelt and, to my friends behest, I do a little back seat
driving by keeping them focused, watching their speed, and watching
their surroundings. I know it makes me an annoying friend but safety
is more important than not being annoying. I refuse to let any of my
friends be “just another idiot” on the road. I personally took on
the task of educating anyone I’m in a car with because when I’m in
their car my life is in their hands. I don’t want to be another
cautionary story I want to spread the stories and help people make
even on less dumb decision.
