Safe Driving Can Save Lives

2020
Drivers Ed Online Essay Contest

When I first took
my drivers test I knew every rule there was on the road. Every
signal, every sign, and every line, I knew what it meant and I
followed the rules to to a T. After I passed my test however I knew
that I did not have to take another drivers test for the rest of my
life, so I started doing what every teenager does; I began breaking
rules because I thought I was cool. Something crazy began to happen
though, as I would break rules I would forget that there was even
supposed to be a rule against that. Speeding when people were not
around became speeding around people, and so on and so forth.

One
day a coach saw me run a stop sign and made me run for it, and I
realized that I needed to drive safer because people on my football
team look up to me to do the right thing even when no one is
watching; and if I was breaking the law when my coach was watching
then other players on my team must have seen me too. I needed to be a
better example. I began to think about my driving more, I thought
about if the people I loved were in the car with; me would they feel
safe? I thought if the freshmen on my football team were learning how
to drive by watching me; would they be safe drivers? I began to think
of the impact my bad driving would have on the people that look up to
me, and it changed how I drive.

Now
we can teach people how to drive at the beginning, but what happens
when they forget those rules, or forget the consequences of breaking
those rules. Well a couple of my friends learned the hard way. A
group of kids from my school were driving down a winding road with a
speed limit of 45 miles per hour. For whatever reason, be it to look
cool or just because; they were going 90. Physics says that in object
in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside
force. When turning a car that outside force is the wheels changing
direction on the ground, however when a car is going twice the speed
limit that outside force is not enough to change the direction of the
car. In the end the car flipped and was totaled, but by the grace of
God no one involved was seriously injured. The person driving, and
the whole school, was shown a lesson that one might think would stop
bad driving from continuing, but it still goes on.

So
how can we stop bad driving from happening? Well, we most likely will
never completely stop it, however we can try. If we can periodically
remind everybody of the risks of bad driving, and re-teach them how
to be safe, we might just be able to drop the number of driving
deaths each year. I propose that every five years after a person gets
their license, they are required to take a drivers safety class. Of
course this would be a short, simple class, just an hour or two long.
It would remind people of the general rules of the road, and give
simple stats reminding them of how dangerous bad driving can be. Then
at the end of the class they will be required to pass a test in order
to get their license renewed. This will remind people of proper
driving and help keep our streets safer.

For
me all it took was a coach making me run for my bad driving, but for
many of us it takes the loss of life to remind us how dangerous bad
driving really is. I hope that one day we can all become safer
drivers without people having to die to remind us of that.