Post-It Note Reminders: The Importance of Driving Safe

Post-It
Note Reminders: The Importance of Driving Safe

The
first time I attended a sleepaway camp, I wrote my mother a reminder
on a yellow post-it note. The note was blunt— Put
on your seatbelt. Central Avenue: 25 miles per hour. Dempster Street:
30 miles per hour. Golf Road: 45 miles per hour—
scribbled in messy grade school penmanship. Though I had never taken
a drivers ed course or even sat behind the wheel of a car, I
had noticed my mother’s irresponsible habits and wanted to make
sure they didn’t continue in my absence. As I have grown older, I
have watched my friends receive their driver’s licenses and taken
steps toward obtaining my own. Road safety remains as important to me
now as it was to the fifth-grade girl sticking that note to the front
console of her mother’s car.

The
foundation of road safety is drivers ed. Though laws vary
across geographical regions, the majority of states require teenage
drivers to pass a drivers ed class as well as behind the wheel
training. The purpose of these programs is to reduce the number of
deaths arising from car accidents by targeting the most at-risk
group: teenagers. Instructors hope to lessen this risk by teaching
their students to operate a motor vehicle, read road signs, and
recognize risk. Though drivers ed courses are a critical piece
of achieving road safety, they cannot work alone. Instead, these
classes must act in conjunction with other protective measures.

These
additional protective measures may take many different forms. The
most effective include safety campaigns (like the famous Click It or
Ticket) and increased surveillance and enforcement standards in
high-risk areas. In order to truly reach our safety potential,
however, legislators must think outside of the box. Encouraging
residents to take advantage of public transportation, for example,
would not only decrease the number of accident-related deaths, but
also reduce air pollution and relieve traffic congestion in urban
areas. Diversifying our transit infrastructure through the creation
of designated bus lanes and separated bike lanes would protect our
most vulnerable populations, including pedestrians and cyclists.

The
responsibility to keep our roads safe doesn’t fall only on public
officials and government agencies, however. This responsibility rests
on the shoulders of every individual on the road, which will one day
soon include me. There are a number of steps I will take in order to
become a safer driver; in addition to obeying traffic laws, I will
limit the distractions around me, including loud music, arguing
friends, social media notifications, and fast food. Policing other’s
behavior is equally as important as policing my own. If I see
classmates neglecting to put on their seatbelt, attempting to crowd
too many people into one car, or getting behind the wheel while under
the influence, I will take initiative and prevent them from engaging
in these unsafe actions. I make this promise to myself: Every time I
drive, I will make the fifth-grade girl with the yellow post-it note
proud.