Pay attention and drive safe, your life depends on it

Pay
attention and drive safe, your life depends on it

Unlike
many teenagers, I did not beg to go to the DMV to take my driver’s
test the moment I turned 16, or even the year after. It’s not that
I was lazy or unmotivated to do so; I was wary. In my mind, the
danger of feeling not ready and unprepared behind the wheel of an
instrument that could seriously hurt someone was too terrifying a
risk. In fact, I didn’t receive my Arizona learner’s permit until
I was about 17 and ½ years old. After that, I practiced for nearly
two years, not taking my driver’s test until I was about 19 1/2. My
younger sister on the other hand, was a different story. Just a
little while after she turned 16, she excitably rushed to go get her
license, without a ton of time in between her permit and license. She
has taken a drivers ed class, but every time she gets in
the car to go pick up her friends, I worry. Is she going to get
distracted by a text? By a social media notification or the radio?

That’s
exactly why drivers ed is so important today. Not only to
teach teenagers the rules of the road, but to educate them on the
dangers of distracted driving. In the state of Arizona, over 23
percent of crashes come from a distracted driver, according to
the Arizona Department of Transportation. But it’s not just
teenagers that drive distracted. Especially with social media and
texting, distracted driving is perhaps the biggest danger with
drivers today. Whenever a notification pops up on our phones, our
brains have been programed so that we want to look at our phone
immediately. I’ve had to tell my dad, who works as a salesman and
spends the majority of his time in the car, to not talk on the phone
and drive, and have had to tell my friends to focus on their driving,
rather than changing the song.

As
far as things that we can all do to help, drive defensively, and go
the speed limit. Being five minutes late to something is better than
hurting yourself or someone else because of aggressive driving. Wear
your seatbelt, in case something does go wrong. I have had friends
that say they don’t believe in seatbelts, which is frightening and
very dangerous. Most of all, what I, and all us can do is pay
attention, and put our phones away. Put it on silent, turn it off or
throw it in the glove compartment, do not let it distract you from
the road. No text is more important than your or someone else’s
life. If you consume alcohol, there is no shame in asking for a ride
home from your parents or somebody else. Above all, when driving, pay
attention, and do not allow yourself to be distracted, your life, and
the lives of other drivers, depend on it.