Name: Mia Garcia
From: Casa Grande, Arizona
Votes: 0
Garcia
3
Mia
Garcia
The
Essentials of Safe Driving, for All of Our Sakes
To
briefly introduce myself, my name is Mia Garcia and I am a senior
attending Mission Heights Preparatory High School in Casa Grande,
Arizona. I am a student who is trying their best to attend college
and pursue my desire to become a counselor to help people in
situations that I have gone through.
There
is a high value of the importance of drivers ed for reducing
the number of deaths. In 2017, alone 37,133 people were killed in car
accidents and 47% of them were not wearing seatbelts. An estimate of
14,955 people’s lives was wearing seat belts and 2,549 people could
have been saved. 3,166 people were killed, 34,247 accidents and 15,
341 fatal crashes were all due to cell phone distraction. With
alcohol intoxication, 10,497 people were killed and 28% of traffic
accidents were due to alcohol intoxication and 9,717 people were
killed from speeding. These aren’t just statistics that I have
names but these are people. Reading this you may simply see numbers
but those are families, friends, loved ones and missed ones. These
numbers are way too high and having these numbers, in general, is
heartbreaking to see. This is why it is important that driver
education and needs to be pushed.
I
know someone close to me that is a part of those statistics. She was
speeding with three passengers in her truck and neither of them were
wearing seatbelts. August 19, 2019, two kids died who shouldn’t
have. This event took a huge toll on my very small school. To add to
this, my sister herself was not the one responsible but she was
T-Boned due to a minor being distracted by his cell phone and ran a
red light. This resulted in her having three fractures in her lower
left lumbar and took four weeks to recover and a 3.8 centimeter gash
in the back of her head. She missed four weeks of pay and is now
permanently hurt and will have back problems for the rest of her
life, she is only 21 years-old. Although, she was blessed to have the
car hit her and miss serious
damage by a foot. Damage was still a factor but not to the point that
I may never see my sister again.
Ways
to reduce these misfortunes are simple but powerful. When first
getting into a car, check everything. Are in a reliable state to be
on the road? Is your seatbelt on? Are your mirrors in their right
position? Is the air conditioning working? Is the music you want to
listen to? Check. Now, you’re driving. Are you staying in the speed
limit? Is your phone on silent and put away? Do you know where you’re
heading? Are your headlights on? These are the questions you need to
ask yourself or even the person you’re driving with for the sake of
your own and other’s life.
Work
Cited
“Texting
and Driving Accident Statistics – Distracted Driving.”
Edgarsnyder.com,
www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cause-of-accident/cell-phone/cell-phone-statistics.html.
“Impaired
Driving: Get the Facts | Motor Vehicle Safety | CDC Injury Center.”
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html.
[email protected].
“Seat Belts.” NHTSA,
17 July 2019, www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/seat-belts.
[email protected].
“Speeding.” NHTSA,
24 July 2019, www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding.
