The Cost of First Place

By:
Michaela Castle

The
Cost of First Place

First
place. However, with this placing, there will be no trophy, no
celebration, only a price to pay. The leading cause of death among
teenagers is car accidents, numbers surmounting any other tragedy.
The fatalities do not stop there either, motor vehicle crashes take
the lives of children, adults, and the elderly as well.

Grim death tolls will continue to increase until action is taken to
stop these accidents. Initiative must be taken among those who chose
to get behind the steering wheel, and to create that we must teach it
young. This is the importance of drivers ed. There is an
irreplaceable need to teach young drivers how to resist the
temptation of distracted driving. To teach them how to resist the
temptation of sending a text, calling a friend, eating, drinking, or
even making simple adjustments in the car that could result in a
fatal ending. To teach them the need to stay cautious behind the
wheel and give them the practice they need before they are given the
freedom of driving alone and putting their lives at risk. Driving
education must show young drivers the consequences driving can have
and teach lessons memorable enough to carry through with the
teenagers all through their adult lives.

Further action that can be taken to save lives would include: as
previously stated driving education, tighter laws, and even driving
lessons at older ages. To re-emphasize, starting driving education at
a young age with lessons that will last a lifetime is crucial to
saving lives on a monumental level. In addition, tighter driving laws
on the state level in each state will be vital, to enforce safe
driving on a national level all states must tighten laws as much as
possible on things like distracted driving, dangerous driving, as
well as other things like wearing a seatbelt. With collective
persistence on safe driving on the legal level, the death toll could
be dramatically limited. Lastly, if states were to require rigorous
driving education for not only young drivers, but all new drivers,
including adults, to be required to go through driving courses. Even
further, drivers with previous driving offenses should also be
required to be reminded of their lessons by retaking the driving
courses. All in all, by enforcing safe driving with any of these
strategies it could save lives, and even just one life would have
been worth it.

To
stay safe while I drive on the road, I take extra precautions by
making sure my phone is on silent mode to terminate temptation, by
putting my seatbelt on, by concentrating on the road, and by making
sure that even the radio is at a low enough level. I have seen lives
ruined by the consequences of car accidents, heard stories of my
father’s accidents, I have watched classmates at my school lose
their lives, and I have learned that there is nothing more important
while driving than staying safe. No person should become just another
statistic.