Name: Andrew R Santacruz
From: Rahway, New Jersey
Votes: 0
Driving
is a scary experience. According to Safer America: Consumer Safety
Information, the number of people killed in motor vehicle accidents
in the United States is rising. If this trend continues, then we will
see car accidents rise in placement on the list of most common causes
of death.
It is
essential to teach drivers ed and how to drive safely in every
school across the United States. I, fortunately, had a teacher who
told all of us that with a car, a person could kill anybody. Those
words stuck with me, and it made me realize that driving is a serious
responsibility that can have fatal effects. My teacher for Driver’s
Ed, Dr. Shannon Barnes, made us do two experiments to demonstrate how
deadly unsafe driving can be. First, she made us wear
vision-distorting goggles and walk along a straight line, and I
almost fell. Then she explained to us that this is how drunk drivers
perceive the road. Dr. Barnes then emphasized that she hoped none of
us drive drunk because, we could kill someone and potentially face
murder charges. The next day, she made us look at our phones and then
look at the screen in front of the room. Every time we saw a person
on the screen, we had to clap. Alarmingly, everyone’s reaction
times were late and no one clapped on time. This experiment
demonstrated the negative effects of multitasking. Those two days of
class are extremely memorable to me. They were fun activities but
taught all of us the life threatening dangers of drunk and distracted
driving. If students all over the world had similar lesson, I
believe there would be a decrease in the total number of deaths due
to car-related accidents.
I was in
a car accident when I was ten years old, and it was terrifying. A
distracted driver in another car caused this car accident.
Fortunately, I put on my seatbelt that day because my mother
repeatedly told me to do so. If I had not been wearing that seat
belt, I would have most likely died that night.
There
are two crucial things to do as soon as you get into a car before you
start driving: First,buckle your seatbelt and second, turn your phone
on “DO NOT DISTURB.” I always follow these rules when getting
ready to drive. I will have my license in May, but I am determined to
become a defensive driver who is always aware of my surroundings. I
have pledged to never be under the influence of any alcohol or drug
while driving and intend to keep that promise as long as I live. I am
grateful to Dr. Barnes and my district for providing me with a
Drivers’ Education class. I hope that through education, every
teenager will pledge to always wear a seatbelt never pay attention to
their phone while driving, always obey traffic laws, and never be
distracted while driving.
