Tragedy Created a Safe Teen Driver

The importance of driver education is bigger than an inexperienced teen could ever imagine by Myles Downing. Period, I am seventeen and the phone must be parked when behind the wheel. Parking the phone means that much needed lives will be saved because we are alert, caring, courteous and an excellent driver. My drivers’ education class taught me so many things about driving that I never new and my parents could not explain to me while teaching me to drive while yelling and scared in the passenger seat. Drivers education taught me the rule of the road, familiarized me with the different roadways and how to drive in hazardous weather. As a result, of this training and education I will not contribute to the number of deaths by teenage underexperienced drivers in Maryland and the United States.

The steps that can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving starts with drivers’ education and the need to consistently support safe driving. The biggest rule is to never drink and drive or drug and drive. Most, importantly I believe in the saying that “friends don’t let friends drive drunk” in the words of my mom. In this modern day we have driving services that can be utilized such as Uber and Lyft that can be called when a person is impaired. There are also hotlines that impaired drivers can call when they are unable to drive themselves.

At the age of 14, I had an unfortunate lasting experience that had a major impact on me related to alcoholism and driving behind the wheel. My college age first cousin Eric at the age of 21 lost his life in an alcohol related car accident as well as two of his other college friends. They all died that day. They were at a bar in Florida my cousin was the only one who was not as intoxicated, but he did not drive. Some how the car was driven with an excessive speed. The car hit palm trees, ran into ditches, hit a steel road sign, flipped several times. The two friends of my cousin died instantly and were dead on arrival. My cousin Eric went out the back window of the coupe hit the concrete in the highway. An unknown lady held his hand until the ambulance came. He lived about 8 hours after the accident and struggled to live throughout the night. He died at about 7:30 am. His organs were crushed and if he lived, he would have been a “vegetable”. As a result, I have no desire to drink or ever drink and drive. My cousin should be here today, but somebody decided to drive impaired.

The steps I am taking to be a better and safer driver and to help others drive safely on the road start with basic respect for the rules of the road and human life. My car is a weapon if it is driven improperly. I know this from my horrific experience when my cousin Eric died unexpectantly. As a result, I made a pledge with my mother to keep my window cracked to hear emergency personnel and police coming. Second, I do not pull off from a light when it turns green as people run lights and most of the time, they are impaired. Third, I abide by the stated speed limit as they have been posted based on safety and highway research.