A Safer Road

A Safer Road

Driving has become a necessity for the majority of the population as cities keep expanding and urbanizing. We must never forget that as long as people are driving, there will be room for human error. That does not reduce the importance of driving safety and education. The road is shared equally by all drivers; safety is not only a personal concern but a communal responsibility.

It is imperative to nurture teenagers and young adults into responsible and safe driving habits. The best way to solve an issue is to tackle its root. Education has always been the key to fruitful change. The majority of accidents and deaths involving cars are due to negligence and improper practices such as being distracted by a cellphone. People need to understand that a vehicle can become a weapon if the driver becomes distracted or lacks the training to operate it. Education is crucial to craft better drivers and to create healthy and positive driving habits.

Creating a thorough and advanced curriculum for new drivers to learn. This would massively increase the preparation drivers get before stepping into the road. Making sure to set the bar high to even start driving would create a generation of drivers that understand and respect the importance of responsible driving. Making the driver’s test harder should be another step taken to decrease the number of fatal crashes. The difficulty level to earn a driver’s license is suboptimal and only prepares the driver for very isolated driving scenarios. Creating a complex test that does not disinherit young drivers’ but rather forces them to become experts on the matter.

My father has always been a model driver, so I have had the luck of never been involved in a car accident. Since moving to Miami, I have, indeed, come very close to being involved in them, but nothing serious. Even the best drivers become victims of their vicious habits. I have witnessed friends and family checking their cellphones either stopped at a light or while going slow. I have even experienced one-handed driving because they were holding a cellphone or food. All of these are distractions that can lead to car accidents, especially if you add a random and unforeseen factor that may occur on the road.

I will become a more aware driver. I think that keeping informed with changes to traffic laws is crucial in becoming a safer driver. I will also become a responsible driver by pointing out my toxic behaviors and those of my closest relatives. Keeping a comment to oneself because one may be scared of hurting someone’s feeling could cause someone their life. As a society, we have to become aware that it is acceptable to hold people accountable to their reckless choices. We are strangers that do not know where we come from or where we are going, but we are putting each other life’s at stake and we are trusting each other to be safe drivers. One small change could save many lives.