Name: Lillian Whitcomb
From: Coshocton, Ohio
Votes: 0
This
is Your Future
Every
time you get behind the wheel of a car you are putting everyone using
the roads in danger. How you handle this responsibility determines
the type of driver you are. Do you apply lipstick in the mirror and
drink your morning cappuccino when you’re driving? Do you keep your
hands on the wheel, or do you sneak a text here and there? It is not
for me to judge what the right way to drive is, but putting the lives
of others in more danger than driving already entails is incredibly
irresponsible.
We
need to teach our students to drive responsibly to ensure that our
roads are safe or our experienced drivers will not even fully
understand the consequences of their actions behind the wheel.
Imagine a city full of uneducated drivers: crazy traffic problems,
countless wrecks, and who-knows-what-else is waiting behind the next
street corner. Safe drivers avoid damage to any part of the driving
system–the people driving, their cars, and even the traffic patterns
put into place to ensure every driver’s safety. Comprehensive
drivers ed is the beginning of solving the root cause of car
accidents, and the importance of this first step is not to be
overlooked.
Educating
those using the roads is the most important step in keeping the roads
safe and reducing the number of accidents. It is my opinion that
enforcing comprehensive drivers ed, spanning all the way from
traffic laws to how to handle your car in dangerous situations,
should be changed. Not only should drivers ed take place in
the beginning of learning to utilize a vehicle, but also once every
five years. This will ensure that drivers are up-to-date with current
traffic laws as well as the newest auto technology. They will also be
refreshed on how to handle situations in which are not common, but
dangerous.
As
a teenager I have experienced far too many people driving
irresponsibly. My friends, inexperienced but frequent drivers, find
driving to be fun rather than dangerous. They feel that driving is a
part of life, and as long as they have control of the car the
majority of the time they will be fine. They are worried that if they
go drinking somewhere they will have to drive home rather than their
parents find out what they were doing. They feel that they will have
good enough control of their bodies to operate a few thousand pound
machine without harming anyone. As someone who has experienced a car
wreck I am certain this is untrue. I was in the car when my mother
was driving and was hit by a 16 year-old boy. He was totally sober
and simply had a lapse of judgement. He turned left as we were
continuing on through the intersection. If this could happen to a
sober person, I am certain it can happen to someone who is under the
influence.
As
teenagers I feel we can pay more attention to our surroundings, lower
the volume of our speakers, and stay off of our phones and away from
being under the influence. The fewer distractions we have on the
road, the fewer chances we have to cause someone serious harm. I feel
that in this day and age without more continuous drivers ed we
should take matters into our own hands and focus on driving more than
our own self-interest. The lives of everyone around us depend on it.
It is our future that we hold in our hands and not only the steering
wheel.
