Name: Kendall Sharp
From: King, North Carolina
Votes: 0
In the Driver’s Seat
Sharp 1
Kendall Sharp
11/30/2020
Driving a car means driving a metal box on wheels that weighs a ton! Doing so comes with certain responsibilities to follow the road laws. Where do you learn about these responsibilities? At driver’s education, you are taught defensive driving which is the way to be a safe driver. Defensive driving includes actions such as checking your mirrors, using signals, going the speed limit, and observing the traffic around you. This can help save a person’s life as if you don’t use your turn signal then the person behind you won’t be prepared to stop and could crash into you. The same goes for observing the traffic around you, if you don’t pay attention to the brake lights of the car in front of you and you don’t slow down you could crash straight into them.
The best way you can prevent a crash is a calm, distraction-free environment. Easy ways to do this are by finding your radio station and pulling up your GPS before you even get out of your parking spot. You can also minimize your attention to those traveling with you. Interesting stories can wait until you make it to your destination. Lastly, one of the golden rules of preventing an accident has to be no phone usage in the car. That Snapchat, text, call, or Instagram feed can wait until you get to your destination. Could you imagine the next thing to be posted on your Snapchat or Instagram account to be your obituary because you got distracted by your phone? Let’s not make that a reality, keep your phone muted and out of sight, toss it into your purse or even your backseat while driving.
Unfortunately, I have been in an accident because of a person not paying attention to their traffic surrounding when driving. My sister was driving and we were stopped at a light, the light turned green but the car in front of us did not move, the person driving it was clearly on their phone. My sister caught this and kept our car motionless. The lady behind us was paying attention to the light and not that the traffic in front of her had not advanced. She rammed into my sister’s car. There are two people driving irresponsibly in this situation. The person in front of us for being distracted by their phone while driving and the lady behind us for not paying attention to the surrounding traffic.
A simple but effective step towards being a better and safer driver is reducing distractions in your car. Like I said before distractions like the radio, GPS, and people in your car can take away your attention from the road. You can also help your friends and family be safer on the road by not being distracting in their car. Along with that, you can even take away some of their distractions by managing the radio, GPS, and phone. Listening to what they need,like changing the radio station, telling them where to turn, or messaging a person back on their phone, will help them be a safe driver. A way that you can help those driving around you is by being a defensive driver and following the rules of the road. Doing this means that other drivers can focus on their actions while driving and not watching yours.
In the driver’s seat, all that should matter is being the best and safest driver that you can be. Practice defensive driving, taking away distractions, and not being a distraction to other drivers the next time you are in the driver’s seat.
