Name: Nya Foster
From: Atlanta, GA
Votes: 0
Nya Foster
Charles R Drew
Charter School
11th
Grade
November 29, 2019
It seemed like an
ordinary Sunday in July. On Sundays, she and her husband of 40 years
routinely attended the 8am worship service at their church. This
Sunday was no different. It seemed like an ordinary Sunday; after
church, she and her husband went to breakfast with two other couples.
On her way home from breakfast, she received a call from her
daughter. Her granddaughter had just turned two and her daughter
promised to send pictures from the party. This was the last time
she ever spoke to her daughter. You see, later that afternoon, a
speeding car ran a stop sign and crashed into the driver’s side
door of her car. She was killed.
This woman was my
grandmother and she never saw the pictures from my birthday party and
I never got the chance to truly get to know her. Her life was
abruptly ended by a careless driver on that Sunday afternoon in July.
I’m very
passionate about safe driving because I know too well that it can be
a life or death situation anytime a person gets behind the wheel.
Over a million people die a year from car accidents. These fatalities
can often be attributed to distracted drivers. Distracted drivers
are those who are engaged in other activities that take their
attention away from the road. This can include driving under the
influence, too many passengers in a car, and using electronics while
driving; even the radio can be a distraction while driving. Roughly,
nine people are killed and more than a thousand are injured daily
in accidents in which at least one driver is
distracted. Speeding contributes to one-third of all traffic
fatalities. In 2017, it was reported that speeding was the cause of
death for more than nine thousand people. Drunk driving crashes
accounted for 28% of all traffic-related deaths in the U.S and of
that 28%, 17% of those deaths were of children under the age of 14.
These are not just statistics. These are actual lives that are lost
and this loss leaves behind grieving families just like mine.
Drivers ed
Programs teach new drivers the basic skills needed to operate a
vehicle safely in various situations and weather conditions. The
formal training focuses on helping drivers understand the importance
of maintaining focus on the road, knowing and obeying traffic laws
and signage, and the serious consequences associated with driving at
high rates of speed or driving while intoxicated. Young,
inexperienced drivers are the most susceptible to accidents so this
training and practice are essential to operating a vehicle safely.
While these
trainings are important, there is no substitute for good judgement.
Each of us should consider the lives that may be impacted by our
action every time we get behind the wheel of a car. We have an
obligation to ourselves, our passengers, and other drivers to know
and obey the traffic laws and to be alert and careful anytime we are
behind the wheel of a car.
Work
Cited
https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries
https://carsurance.net/blog/car-accident-statistics/
