Select Page

Round 3 – A Text or Call can Wreck-it All

Name: Erin Charlize Davis
From: Jonesboro, AR
Votes: 0

A Text or Call can Wreck-it All

2

Erin Davis

Driver Education Initiative Award

November 19, 2020

A Text or Call can Wreck-it All

I am 17 years old. I have only been driving for about a year, but I learned pretty quickly about driving safety and how important it is. One night I was driving home from a basketball game down a dark highway. I was not completely familiar with this route but I did know it was a shortcut to my house. As I was driving I was trying to look for my turn but it was so dark I could barely see anything. Once I saw the turn it was too late. But did I pass it and just turn around? No, I made a hard sharp turn and lost control of my car. Everything happened so fast I didn’t know what had happened until I was in a ditch. Luckily I was okay and so was my car. I just had a little bit of whiplash. After that night I was very careful when driving at night and I always made sure to slow down when I couldn’t see very well.

I took driver’s education my tenth-grade year and I think that every 16 years old should have to take that class. Kids need to be taught the correct way to drive and to know that speed is not “cool”. Drivers education taught me a lot about driving like how to merge lanes correctly, how to parallel park, and how to change a tire on a vehicle. These are things that kids need to learn. I would have never learned how to change a tire or to parallel park if it wasn’t for that class. Our teacher also taught us about speeding and how dangerous it is. I think that is what causes more deaths because people get comfortable with going over the speed limit. If driver’s education is mandatory then kids will be taught the dangers of speeding.

I see my friends, my parents, and sometimes even me check the phone while driving. That is so very dangerous, and almost all of us are guilty of doing it. I think that if we could all put our phones on “Do not Disturb” we would be a lot safer on the roads. If you get a call or a text and you have to respond then you need to pull into a parking lot and park before picking up the phone. If we did small things like not checking our phone and driving the speed limit I think that would reduce the number of deaths.