Will I Become a Statistic?

It’s known across America that about 34,000 people are killed from driving each year. It’s quite a scary number and it’s really saddening that you must worry about your life at hand when you get in a vehicle and just think of the horrid thought “will I see the people that I love again?” But as a person who is going to college soon and who is planning on driving for the rest of my life, I just wonder if I will ever become a part of that statistic ? Plus even my friends who are driving and my family members who have been driving for almost their lives, will they also become part of that statistic too? It’s a jarring question that people , like myself, have to question at some point.

However, it’s important to stress to people why it’s important for driver education to exist. Yes, drivers classes exist so people can learn how to drive in this bustling life, but classes like these can teach you how to drive responsibly as a growing person. It’s said that teens are less likely to be involved in crashes or to receive tickets for driving. But it is likely for the ages 16 – 18 to get in a crash and could possibly get killed from the crash as well (1). But it is important to teach people how to drive safely and responsibly because you never know what could happen on the road.

Some steps that can be taken in order to teach a person how to drive safely is to let people who are new to driving have a good understanding of the consequences of some things when they’re on the road. For example driving while under the influence. It’s extremely dangerous to drive while under the influence because one you’re putting yourself and some other person’s life at risk of getting into a crash or even dying. If you do get into a crash you might get a minor or major injury and you might also get fined a serious bill and that could possibly put you in a bad place, you never know who is looking back at your driving history at any point in time. Who knows you might not be even trusted with a car again. Another thing that needs to be taught in order to save a life is how to properly handle someone’s road rage. It’s quite infuriating that there are some drivers who can do ridiculous stuff which can result in someone who releases that anger out to the world, especially to the driver. Sadly, there have been deaths from road rage crashes and it’s pretty sad to see that there are people who die or get into some serious injury because of it. So within drivers education courses, there should be times where the teachers should gloss over road rage and how dangerous it actually is to react to someone being foolish on the road. Another thing is that driving educators should also teach their students how to stay calm and to not react to a person saying disrespectful things to them on the road. If you are in a situation where there is someone being reckless on the road, try not to feel the need to yell at them, even though it may feel good at times, you never know how that driver will retaliate to your comments.

When I was young and over at my aunt’s house, playing games while waiting for my mom to pick up my brother and I, my aunt got a call from my cousin. I remember when my aunt was in shock and in disarray when she heard the news. My older cousin got into an accident. The back of her car was totally wrecked, but she was safe and the person who hit her car got arrested.I wasn’t aware about how dangerous that crash had been and I’m so happy that my cousin is still here with me today. Another story that I remember is when I was in 8th grade, I was with my father and brother going back home because I was helping my cousin (from my father’s side) move. All of a sudden there was this little bump that we all felt from the back of the car and my father pulled over. The driver who also hit us also pulled over, she came out of the car and apologized to my dad and the police had to get there but she got a ticket.

Some steps that I must take is to keep my eyes on the road at all times. I tend to get distracted a lot so I know that I will be driving to keep my eyes on the road. Since I’m young I know the dangers of driving under the influence and try my best to ignore people who do foolish things on the road. But overall I know that it is up to me to keep myself safe, my passengers safe, and people on the road safe. So when I do get older and drive better, I may keep this in my head but I hope that I don’t always ask myself the awful question, “Will I become a statistic?”

Sources : (1) www.idrivesafely.com