How Can I Be a Better Driver

How Can I Be a Better Driver?

What is one thing you love to do? Is it to spend time with the people you love? Do the activities that make you happy? As a teen, you have lots of time to do those things, but how would you feel if all those things were taken away in less than a second, or worse, taken away from someone else and knowing it was your fault? That is the decision you make when you choose to drive recklessly.

According to dosomething.org 20% of new drivers (age 16) have an accident in their first year of driving. That’s 1 in every 5 drivers. To reduce these numbers, some recommended steps to take include; making sure you and all your passengers are wearing seatbelts, keeping the music volume low, checking your mirrors, and doing your best to avoid driving late at night or early in the morning. Your parents can do things too! State Farm’s statistics say that 56% of teen drivers rely on their parents to show them the right way to drive (1). Another statistic says that teen drivers with involved parents are twice as likely to wear a seatbelt.

A very large percentage of accidents are likely caused by distracted driving. This could be caused by extra passengers in the car or by the use of a cell phone while driving. According to a study done by GuardChild, more than half (56%) of teen drivers say that they talk on the phone while driving. A statistic by Allstate also says that the death rate of teen drivers increases with every additional passenger in the car (1).

My home state of Wyoming was ranked as the worst state for new or teen drivers due to bad weather conditions and high amounts of teen DUIs (2). I’ve experienced this statistic in action not even a few days ago when there was a bad storm during the second week of November. It started snowing after kids got to school in the morning, and by the afternoon all of the roads in town had iced over. The people in my town are used to this and didn’t take it seriously. They spun their tires out for fun, raced each other – throwing caution to the wind. This resulted in more than 10 crashes and 1 serious injury that required an ambulance. Cars were totaled, property was damaged, and the students were held in the school for a long time while tow trucks cleared out all the vehicles blocking the road in each direction of the school. All of this could have been avoided had kids slowed down and taken time to consider the consequences of driving recklessly.

There are many ways to prevent accidents from happening to you or your loved one. Wearing a seatbelt can reduce the risk of death by 45% and risk of injury by 50% (3). If you aren’t wearing a seatbelt, you are 30 times more likely to be thrown from a car in the event of an accident. It seems obvious, but of the 37,133 motor related accidents, 47% of them weren’t wearing their seatbelts (4). Another way to reduce accidents is by taking drivers education courses. A study done by University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that teens who don’t take a drivers education course are 75% more likely to get a traffic ticket, 16% more likely to have a small accident, and 24% more likely to be involved in a crash resulting in injury or death (5).

Having a motor-related accident or death can spin your life out of control, but it doesn’t have to. By following safety protocols, calculating the risks of driving irresponsibly, having an involved parent, you can protect yourself and all the people you love.

Sources:

1. https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-teen-driving

2. https://buckrail.com/wyoming-ranks-as-worst-state-for-teen-drivers/

3. https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/seatbeltbrief/index.html

4. https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/seat-belts

5. http://newsroom.unl.edu/releases/2015/08/13/Study:+Driver%27s+ed+significantly+reduces+teen+crashes,+tickets#:~:text=A%20new%20study%20that%20followed,traffic%20violations%20among%20new%20drivers.&text=About%2053%20percent%20of%20the,to%20qualify%20for%20the%20permit.