Name: Cameryn Roberts
From: Montgomery, Texas
Votes: 0
The importance of drivers ed in reducing the number of deaths
as a result of driving cannot be stressed enough. Teens age 15 – 20
without drivers ed are responsible for 91% of teen driver
crashes (Source: https://driving-tests.org/driving-statistics/). This
means that about 9 out of 10 teen accidents and car crashes could
have potentially been avoided with more educated drivers. Steps need
to be taken to reduce the drastic amount of car crashes and accidents
occurring, because they are costing people their lives. There are
many steps that can be taken but the most important is an increase in
drivers ed. However, drivers ed for all ages not just new
drivers. I propose that there be a mandatory, by law, driving
refresher course that all drivers must complete once a year. This
course would be a condensed version of the drivers ed that
the new drivers complete. I think that making education mandatory for
the drivers on the road, even just taking a small course once a year,
would make a drastic difference in the amount of car accidents and
devastating deaths that occur every day.
An experience
that I have had that made this issue very close to my heart, was the
devastating death of a fellow classmate his senior year of High
School. His name was Keaton Bussell and he was the most outgoing,
kind, Jesus loving person you would ever meet, but this was all taken
away due to a misunderstanding of road laws. One day when Keaton was
driving to work, he was stuck behind a slow driver on a one lane
road. Keaton made the decision to cross the solid yellow line and try
to pass the car in front of him, in hopes of getting to work on time.
However, he was hit head on and passed away, devastating not just his
family, but the entire school. To think that maybe if Keaton was
better informed that he should not have tried to pass that cat in
front of him maybe he would still be here today haunts me.
Steps that I take
to be a better and safer driver are that I always enable the driving
mode on my cell phone to disable all notifications while my vehicle
is in motion to keep myself safe from distractions and also I have
made it a personal rule of mine to never pass a car in front of me on
a one lane road. Steps that I take to keep other drivers safe on the
road are when I am riding with friends, my sister, or anyone is that
I will not let them use their phone to distract them, I will always
adjust the volume or temperature to make sure they have both hands on
the wheel, and I will always ensure that we both have our seat belts
on correctly to protect us in any emergency.
