Name: Payton Floyed
From: Ville Platte, Louisiana
Votes: 0
Safe
driving – why is it so essential in our society today? The largest
reason is it reduces the number of deaths in our society. Life is a
gift that should be protected, not endangered, and by operating our
vehicles safely, we can do exactly that. In order to bring up a
society of safe drivers, we must educate new drivers on safety rules
and work to emphasize the dangers of reckless driving.
How
does education play into safe driving? Most importantly, it works to
put a dent in the number of people that are killed in vehicle-related
accidents each year. By educating new drivers, we teach them what to
and what not to do while behind the wheel. For instance, the use of
seatbelts. The importance of seatbelts is emphasized in drivers ed
classes, but I feel it is insufficient. If new drivers truly
understood the importance of wearing a seatbelt, they would wear them
more often. In my experience, the people I get into cars with
sometimes do not wear seatbelts. Maybe it is that they are
uncomfortable or they simply do not wish to wear them, but it is
beyond important. If it was discussed more in drivers ed, it may
have a greater impact on new drivers. Another example is
understanding how stop signs operate. There are a few different types
of stop signs (3-way stops, 4-way stops, etc.), and everyone may not
understand them. If one does not understand, then he or she could get
into a car crash. If he or she understands, a crash is easily avoided
by slowing down and accelerating at the correct moments.
While
drivers ed is important, it is also important to take direct
steps to increase the number of safe drivers on the road. One way to
do this is to make looking at a cellphone while driving illegal. In
some states it is illegal, but it is not illegal throughout the whole
nation, which it needs to be. If it was, the number of accidents
caused by distracted driving would be greatly reduced. Another path
that can be taken is increasing police activity. In some smaller
towns, the police let a great deal of dangerous drivers get away with
driving recklessly. If some policemen were more attentive, people
would be discouraged from driving dangerously.
There
have been many instances in which I was in a vehicle with an unsafe
driver, or was the unsafe driver myself. When I was around seven or
eight years old, I was riding home from the grocery store with my
grandmother. She turned around to look at my sister, who was probably
around four years old at the time, and me. Because she took her eyes
off the road, she drove the car into a nearby ditch. None of us were
harmed, but the entire ordeal could have been avoided if she would
have kept her eyes on the road instead of turning around. I got into
another accident on the first day of my junior year of high school. I
was trying to drive home through traffic that could be considered
very dense and unusual for my small town. I had momentarily looked
down at my phone to change the song that was playing. Next thing I
knew, I had just gotten into my first accident. I wrecked my big
truck into the back of a younger mother’s SUV. Both of these
accidents were caused by distracted driving, which is the reason for
most car accidents. From this I learned never to look away from the
road while driving.
There
are many steps that I, and drivers everywhere, can take to become
safer on the road. For one, avoid all distractions. If a call needs
to be made or a text message needs to be sent, find a good place to
pull over. Also, make sure to observe and obey all traffic signs,
lights, and laws. This way, no one will be driving recklessly, and
everyone will arrive alive at the destination they were traveling to.
In
summary, safe driving is one of the main things that can prevent
vehicle-related deaths. To enforce safe driving, we must educate
drivers, incorporate new laws, and encourage safe and smart driving
practices. Safe driving is one of the most important things we learn
today.
