Personal Experiences

Is
Your Life Worth It?

“Don’t
make your car your coffin.” That is a phrase I heard many times
growing up from my parents. It makes a very large impact on my life
and how I drive. Throughout my years of driving, which is not much at
the time, I have heard over a hundred stories of careless drivers and
dangerous conditions drivers have driven through. Whether it be
through weather, influence, or just ignorance, I have heard it all.
In my opinion, this can be helped with strongly enforced laws, and
increased prices, and increased knowledge.

In
2017, my hometown, Chesapeake Virginia, had witnessed the most
heart-breaking thing to happen to it in a very long time. Kaitlyn
Duffy was killed in an accident with a driver under the influence of
alcohol. I believe at that moment people truly understood the need
for traffic regulations. My father, a corpsman for the Navy,
witnessed many flipped cars and people going through windshields.
With all of this gruesome knowledge, I could not help but wonder if
cars were worth it.

In
my opinion, fuel prices should increase. With people who need their
car to travel longer distances, they will be willing to pay the
price; however, anyone who travel five minutes would rather walk,
ride a bike, or carpool. This will reduce carbon emmissions and help
people exercise whether it be healthy habits or actual health. In
addition to fuel prices increasing, I believe there should be
stronger laws enforced. Higher fines and penalties for not wearing a
seatbelt or putting your loved ones in a seat belt. Child
endangerment and reckless driving should be highly enforced as well.
This would help the problems with driving go down. Again though, to
prevent the problem completely, increase prices of fuel.

I
understand this is not a popular opinion, but I cannot help but
believe this would benefit not only the environment but the lives
that could have been and will be saved, like Kaitlyn Duffy’s. In
order to solidify this, I will practice driving when I am not in a
depressive or nervous state, and instead, pull over or get someone
else to drive. In addition, I will carpool more often and promote
people wearing seatbelts as often as possible.