Safe Driving

Safe Driving

Every kid dreams to be 16 so that they can finally drive. One’s 16th birthday in the United States is greatly celebrated because he or she can get his or her license. This leads to many 16 year olds having the ability to drive, and not everyone should be on the road, especially at this age. Many states require Drivers Education, but others do not. This is a problem, and kids that are bad drivers are still able to get their license in some of the states that do require Driver’s Education. This is also a problem. Everyone knows at least one person who should not be driving. Being a 17 year old in high school, I can think of many. Kids who know they are horrible drivers will go to small towns that are lenient during driver’s license tests so that they are sure to pass. In Illinois, one must have 50 written hours to take the driver’s test. The state puts too much trust in people to be honest about how much they have driven. Majority of people do not reach the 50 mark and at the last minute, will scramble down the last 30 or so hours on their sheets. Situations like this should not happen as much as they do because they contribute to the amount of car accidents the USA acquires every year. We need change. We need all states to require Driver’s Education, and we need states to not have as much trust in the citizens when it comes to getting the proper amount of practice driving hours. We need a system that gives everyone the proper education and right amount of practice. We need to lower the countless amount of fatalities that take away people’s lives every single day.

I am very thankful for the lessons that I learned in Driver’s Education and that I had the privilege to be educated about safe driving. Today, I am proud to be a safe driver. A lesson that contributed to me being a safe driver was to never text while driving. A lot of accidents are caused by texting and driving, and it is awful. One can look down at their phone for one second and still hit someone or something. It does not take much time for an accident to happen, and that is why it is important to keep your eyes on the road at all times. Multiple people my age brag about how they can text and drive and not get caught or get into accidents, and it disgusts me. It disgusts me that it has become a trend or a cool thing to be on your phone while driving. Texting and driving is a life threatening action and is not to be taken lightly. We need more awareness from within the younger generation to really push how dangerous texting and driving is. Besides from learning not to be on my phone while driving, I also learned to follow the speed limit. Majority of people speed, and this can be a huge problem. I often will be going the speed limit, and when I check my rear view mirror, I find the person behind me on my tail. This is a problem because if I were to suddenly stop, the person behind me would hit me. This is a situation that many people face every day, and is a cause for many accidents. We need better Driver’s Education across the country that pushes how dangerous it can be to speed.

I am glad to have learned not only how bad texting and driving and speeding can be, but many other lessons as well. I hope that every state will eventually have Driver’s Education and the states that already do have it, will be improved to help save more lives.