Drive With a Reason This Season

A car accident is one of the many problems that arise on the road. Drivers can be involved in a car accident anytime, anywhere. A total of twenty million people die or are injured in car accidents each year in the United States. The twenty million people who became injured in car accidents include me. This past year, many of the car accidents in my community involved my classmate’s selfish actions. Many were not paying attention or thought they could make the light. Some were even texting. Although my car wasn’t hit by a student, it doesn’t make the issue of texting and driving any less damaging. With Covid-19, many driver’s education classes went virtual. With this, many kids my age looked up the answers to the online test or sat on the zoom while they played video games. The importance of drivers education in reducing the number of deaths as a result of driving is to help people recognize and select a safe environment and situations. To act safely on the roads is a goal that is related to lifestyle and environmental awareness, and in turn to public health for all. If we as a community want to reduce the number of deaths related to driving we need to obey the traffic laws, be predictable, avoid distractions, drive rested, and steer clear of alcohol and drugs. And one key point I want to stress is DO NOT TEXT AND DRIVE. October of 2021, I was rear-ended on the way home from the doctor. Looking at my car, the accident seemed minor. Little did I know that almost six months later I’d still suffer from a major concussion. This accident was a result of texting and driving. If the lady behind me had been paying attention to the road instead of her phone, she never would’ve hit me. Her actions resulted in me missing out on many experiences in my senior year. This year, my kickline team was approved to go to nationals in Florida. Since seventh grade, I had been looking forward to this trip. My last time dancing with my best friends had been taken away from me. Now as my friends are on the plane to Florida, I am cheering them on from home. This accident has also taken my love for learning away. I am someone who enjoys going to school and learning. My concussion has made it hard for me to sit in a classroom with bright lights and a smartboard. There are some days I can’t even attend school due to a raging headache. Although I am lucky to be alive, this issue doesn’t affect just me. Countless times pulling into the school parking lot this year I’ve watched new senior drivers speeding through the parking lot and hitting other cars. They had absolutely no reason to speed. All they’re doing is causing their insurance to go up and now they’re forced to fix the damage on the other person’s car. It’s not right to just blame new teen drivers, because I’ve witnessed local parents driving too fast in the school parking lot crashing into students’ cars as well. We need to do better. We can’t just keep saying we will be better. We need to hold ourselves accountable and make a change. There are so many ways we as a community can make sure we are better drivers. This is a global issue, and I know that I can be better too. Many new drivers get distracted easily, me being one of them. I’ve only had my license for ten months, and within the first month of receiving mine, I realized how easy it was to get distracted by the smallest things. A way I was able to focus on the road was not allowing myself to drive friends around until I was more comfortable driving myself. Focusing on the road will help with other aspects of driving. Teens and adults keeping their speed down will help them to avoid accidents. Being late or impatient causes us to speed but if we leave a few minutes earlier and give ourselves enough time there’s no need to double our speed. We cannot rely on other drivers to move out of our way or let us merge. Be prepared to react when drivers run through stop signs or red lights. Although there is no going back to October 19th, 2021, there is room for improvement for everyone and it’s time we all hold ourselves responsible for our actions.