Road Shenanigans and their Consenquences

Road
Shenanigans and their Consequences

by
Kailey Brown

Driver’s
Education is taught for the sole purpose of reducing deaths caused by
driving. It allows students to learn the proper techniques and safety
precautions needed to drive safely and appropriately. A large
component to unsafe driving is in relation to cell phone usage.
According to the National Safety Council, cell phone usage while
driving results in 1.6 million crashes per year. Out of the 7.8
billion people in the world, it would only take approximately four
thousand nine hundred years for the entire human population to be
wiped out if these statistics were to remain the same every year.
While that seems like a lot of time, it isn’t. The population would
essentially be gone before we know it. Drivers ed was
created to stop accidents like these. However, texting and driving
isn’t always the case. Accidents occur when people fall asleep at
the wheel, drink and drive, speed, etc. Students are taught to follow
speed limits, pay attention to the road, and respect other drivers
and pedestrians in order to reduce deaths caused by driving.

People
of all ages can practice safe driving by performing many different
steps. These steps can range from knowing your cars limits then to
avoiding other drivers blind spots. If all of the people in the world
followed the simple rules taught by drivers ed courses, the
world would be less likely to have traffic accidents. The skills and
rules taught throughout one course apply to a lifetime of situations
that can not only be avoided, but also be dealt with appropriately if
said situations still occur. They are important rules to learn for
many different situations.

Personally,
I’ve grown up in the shadow of a sibling who was basically accident
prone. My brother has been in several driving accidents including one
that almost cost him his life. He was jogging down the road when he
saw somebody he knew driving down the road. Being as smart as he is,
he decided to jump onto the hood of the car. When this happened, the
girl that was driving hit her brakes and then hit the gas in a panic.
This caused my brother to fall off of the hood and then be ran over
by the car once she hit the gas pedal. He was life flighted to a
hospital in Boise, Idaho where they had to fix several broken ribs,
place screws into his pelvic bone, and treat his road rash. While
this case is due to bad decisions, it was also an accidental case
caused by driving. Since then, my brother has been in several car
accidents however, not as fatal. Recently I’ve lost one of my
closest friends. I’ve been friends with him since the third grade,
been to all of his birthday parties and other festivities over the
years. He was in a rollover accident where he wasn’t wearing his
seat belt and ended up being ejected out of the vehicle. It’s in
sad cases like these that people should be more precautious and
remember the rules taught in drivers ed courses. Situations
would be much different and it can save a person’s life.

As
I sit here and write about the importance of remembering skills
taught in drivers ed, I think about the fact that I’m not
a perfect driver. There are times when I decide to speed because I’m
late for work, school, wherever it may be, and I shouldn’t. I
should prepare myself better to leave earlier rather than later so
that I may be on time to these places without putting my life as well
as other people’s lives at stake. This essay is more personal than
statistics, but it’s just as important to hear. People lose those
closest to them because of these types of accidents and a life is
worth more than being late.