Responsible Driving

Responsible
Driving

Clarissa
Ng

University
of Maryland, College Park

I
was 13 and my dad was driving my family from Los Angeles to San
Francisco. We were cruising down the highway when the cars in front
of us started slowing down. My dad also started slowing down and,
suddenly, there was a loud bang and the car shook. A large SUV had
just hit our small rental car from the back. The driver behind us
hadn’t been driving at a safe distance and was also distracted
while talking on the phone.

Car
accidents account for over 1.2 million deaths each year, according to
the World Health Organization, and is the 9th leading cause of death
around the world. One glance at a phone or being a little too close
to the car in front of you could cost you your own life and someone
else’s. Although the accident I got into only cost the driver
behind us a lot of insurance money, it could’ve easily been much
worse.

Many
people associate irresponsible driving with drugs and alcohol but we
cannot ignore the 72% of traffic-related deaths that occur outside of
alcohol, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) in 2016. There are many ways for sober drivers to improve their
driving in order to commute in a safe manner. One of the best ways to
do this is by enrolling in a drivers ed course. According to
the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, a drivers ed course
significantly reduces the number and risk of accidents and moving
violations in new drivers, which can save many lives out on the
roads. By taking a drivers ed course, the driver behind us
would’ve known not to be distracted and to follow cars at a safe
distance.

Even
passengers are responsible for safe driving. When I was five, my
cousins had been in a terrible car accident. Their car slipped on
some ice and flipped over several times down a hill. Fortunately,
they only had minor injuries because they had been wearing their
seatbelts and weren’t ejected from their seats. Every now and then,
I’ll go into a friend’s car and they won’t wear seatbelts.
Something that takes a couple of seconds could easily save our lives
but many of us couldn’t seem to be bothered by it.

However,
this is not to imply that only those inside of a car can help promote
safe driving. Especially with alcohol-impaired driving, anyone can
speak up to promote responsible, sober driving. According to the CDC,
29 people die each day in an alcohol-related car accident. This is
something that can be easily prevented by anyone, whether you know
the driver or not. The drivers ed course that I attended was
able to stress the dangers of drunk driving and promote safe and
sober driving. Courses like this and reinforcement from those around
us are essential to providing the streets with safe drivers.

We
are
essential to providing the streets with safe drivers.