Reduce deaths, drive safely

Diver education is crucial because it instructs people not only on driving laws but strategies for emergencies, among many other important materials that are needed to learn to prevent accidents. You can learn a lot from your parents or guardian, but laws change, and added information and rules are released that your parents may not have learned about. Learning about street signs will help you navigate the road and help you get to your destination safely. Driving with a professional teacher will help you more than driving with your parents or guardian because they are more informed and less likely to get aggravated with you. You are also more likely to pay attention to a teacher rather than your parents or guardian. 

As we grow and change, so does the world. Staying on top of laws and researching regularly to inform ourselves is needed. Implementing better lighting for night driving where intersections are busy and have a history of accidents can help reduce accidents along with having more turn lanes. Having turn lanes will help the flow of traffic and reduce accidents by the people that are not paying attention. Enforcing the laws would help with careless driving. My husband has been pulled over so many times and tells me he just gets a warning. That does not help someone learn a lesson.  

I have been in two accidents, one of them had changed my life. Being young and thinking I was invincible, I almost killed myself and my best friend. After drinking alcohol for a couple of hours, we decided to go to a different party. A tree is what came between us and that new party. Thankfully, there were no serious injuries, but I totaled my car, ended up in jail, and had to spend a lot of money. That accident taught me how dangerous and serious impaired driving is. A party is not worth risking my life or the life of others. I was also in a minor accident because I saw a spider on my leg. I was approaching a red light and did not hit my brake in time because I was freaking out about the spider, so I rear-ended the car in front of me. Luckily, the result was minor scratches with no severe damage. My husband is always trying to text, change the radio station, or FaceTime while driving, so I make him give me his phone while he is driving. We cannot be aware of our surroundings if we have our faces in our phones.  

When I get into my vehicle, I turn on Do Not Disturb on my phone to make sure I will not be distracted by calls, texts, or a Facebook notification. Not everyone is a safe driver, so I make sure to wear my seatbelt and teach my children the importance of them. I will keep up on my research about any new driving laws or rules and make sure what I am reading is coming from a reliable source. Reminding myself that getting to a doctor’s appointment is not worth speeding and risking my life. I always make sure my children have what they need before I start driving, so I will not have to take my eyes off the road to grab them something. If I am driving without my kids, I like to drive in silence because with being a stay-at-home mom, I do not have any quiet time. If I decide I want to hear music, I put on a playlist so that I do not have to change stations while driving and I can keep my eyes on the road and my surroundings. 

Steps that I can take to become a better driver is using my turn signal more often. I tend to not use it when no other car is around which leads me to forget to use it when cars are around whether I am turning or changing lanes. I need to practice parallel parking because I am not great at it, but it is needed from time to time. I find myself speeding a lot, especially on the highway, so I need to start taking advantage of cruise control. Checking my vehicle before driving is something I never do, so I need to start checking my tires, mirrors, and inside for bugs so I will not have another accident. My kids like to play in my car and tend to mess with the mirrors so making sure they are in the right place before I leave will help me be able to see and be aware of my surroundings. As a parent, aunt, and godmother, I need to be a good role model and by me driving safely and teaching them the importance of driving safely, they will more like grow up to be safe drivers as well.