Creating Responsible Habits Saves Lives

Youth Forward

Everyday, people all over the world learn about wars in order to
educate themselves about the mistakes of their ancestors in order to
never again repeat history. In World War II, 291,557 lives were lost
over a period of 5 years. This gloomy statistic reminds the whole
world to never become involved in a deadly war like WWII again.
However, a silent killer lives among us; car accidents. In just the
US, 34,000 people lose their lives yearly. Car accidents are often
preventable deaths, yet so many lives around the world are lost to
car accidents. Since 2011, the rates of a life ending car accident
are steadily rising despite a fall in previous years. What is does
this increase indicate? Drivers, especially new drivers, are creating
bad habits that endanger the lives of themselves and those around
them. Most people do not believe that speeding one time, or using
their phone while driving one time is a big deal, but these small
“one time” actions create reckless habits. In order to decrease
the amount of lives lost to car accidents, drivers should be more
educated on how habits form. People around the US do not realize how
vulnerable they are to forming unsafe habits. According to Huff Post,
it takes about 21 days to build up a life long habits. All it takes
is for an irresponsible driver to speed 21 times, and a habit is
formed. Speeding becomes second nature, and increases the likely hood
of a deadly car crash. In addition, drivers should be more educated
on the likely hood of car accidents. Everyone knows how devastating a
car accident is, but do not pay attention to them for drivers believe
that a car accident will never happen to them. Of course, car
accidents are inevitable and are not always the fault of human error.
Once, a driver had slid into the back of my own car as the rain had
made another driver’s car go out of control. Car accidents will
happen, but the important and responsible thing to do is to lower the
risk of accidents by creating healthy habits. To say that car
accidents will never happen is unrealistic, so then it is up to the
public to educate themselves on how to create responsible driving
habits. In order to become a responsible and safe driver, people
should practice good habits in order to create a safe environment for
themselves and those around them.