Changing A Culture

Changing
A Culture

I
joined the school Cross Country team my freshman year of high school.
As most sports are the boys were filled with testosterone always
trying to show everyone else how cool they were. Many of these things
were harmless like arm wrestling or racing against one another on the
track but one thing that stood out to me was how dangerous their
driving was. I didn’t like what was going on but as a freshman I
didn’t have much influence so I just told myself that I would be
responsible when I became a junior or senior and I started to drive.
Nationally teens are nearly twice as likely to be in a fatal car
accident as an adult that is why behavior like this needs to be
addressed.

As
a freshman on the Cross Country team we would catch rides to various
events with the seniors. Usually we would meet up beforehand and take
off at the same time. We would fly down county roads racing to our
destination with music blasting and having a ball. I won’t lie and
say there wasn’t something exhilarating about taking a sharp right
turn at 30 mph but in the back of my head I was always thinking of
how terrible it would be if we got into an accident or worse hit and
killed someone. It is all fun and games until something terrible
happens and someone’s life is ruined because of a stupid decision.

These
experiences led me to tell myself that when I got a car and continued
the tradition of giving rides I would at least attempt to change the
culture. Luckily the year before I got my license a senior that year
had a similar mindset to me. He agreed that the racing to and from
event which occured was dangerous and he gave rides while driving
safely. It gave me a great example which I tried to emulate my senior
year. I was lucky enough to be good friends with some of the other
seniors that year and convinced them to drive safely with me and not
race.

In
hindsight learning everything I have about teen driving I am glad
that I made the right decision while driving others. I hope that
other teen drivers can understand the tremendous negative impacts
driving can have on the rest of their lives if they are not safe and
that parents can better understand the reasons teenagers drive
recklessly so that they can better educate their children to be safe
drivers.