The Solution to the BIggest Cause of Death Among Teens

The Solution to the Biggest Cause of Death Among Teens

We turned out of the parking lot on our first lunch off-campus during junior year. My friend’s boyfriend stopped in the middle of the road and swerved a little thinking it was funny. The two boys in the car laughed hysterically, while the three of us girls all got irritated. It wasn’t funny. There was nothing funny about the fact someone could have just hit us. Road safety is not a laughing matter, especially when nearly one-half of teen deaths are caused by car accidents. There are numerous ways to reduce the number of deaths while driving. The most important being through driver’s education.

Driver’s education is required by everyone to get a license. Whenever people take driver’s ed, they learn all about the rules of the road. This is imperative to everyone’s safety because people need to know what road signs mean such as no left turn, and yield. If they don’t, deaths will be twice as likely. However, it seems as though some people who take the course still do not even know what they mean. We also need driver’s ed to warn drivers of how responsible they need to be, especially to prevent drinking and driving. In the reviews for the online course I took, one mother said it taught her teenager that driving wasn’t a right, it was a privilege. She said that her son realized the seriousness of it all, and scared him straight. Driver’s ed is the first, and most important way to prevent deaths, but there are still many other steps to reduce the number of deaths.

Three of the biggest causes of death while driving are speeding, texting, and drinking. A big way to prevent speeding is by leaving early wherever you are going, so you don’t feel rushed to get there in time. People normally speed when they are in a rush to go to school or work. However, without this pressure, they most likely will not feel the need to speed. Another way, even though it doesn’t make everyone the happiest, is through tickets from police officers. If someone is punished with a three hundred dollar ticket, they are going to not want to speed anymore to avoid wasting money they may not even have had in the first place. No one wants a ticket like that to go, and make their insurance higher either. No one should ever look on their phones while driving, even to check a phone message, but they still do. We prevent this by providing informational commercials on the radio, and in movie theatres. There are also very heavy fines associated with getting caught with a cell phone, especially in school zones. We can all work together to prevent drinking and driving. If you plan on drinking at a bar, make sure to have a sober friend, or family member present to drive you home. You can also make sure to bring money for a taxi, or uber. Better yet, you could stay home, or go to a friend’s house where you will not have to leave until you are sober enough to drive. Advertisement for safe drinking is also played on the radio, and in movies. The government works with us to help us drive safer, but we need to do our part as well.

I always do my best to be a safe driver, especially when my younger sister is in the car. I want to be a good role model for when she starts to drive, as well as keep everyone safe. I never pick up my phone when I drive. Nothing is important enough to look away from the road. I always drive the speed limit, even when others pressure me to drive faster on the highway by going around me, and even honking. I’ve even gotten some vulgar gestures. It seems like everyone speeds in Texas, but just like my parents always tell me, that doesn’t mean I need to too. I also never drive under the influence, not that I am ever under it anyways. I always try to let in other cars on the highway and take turns at stop signs. I always use my signal, even though my father and many other dads of Texas do otherwise. I always look twice before turning or merging because you never know when someone comes out of nowhere. I think if everyone did these things, it’d be a lot safer to drive everywhere. I hope that one day, everyone will drive as safely as possible.