Name: Anna Therese Yaussy
From: Monument, Colorado
Votes: 0
A
year ago, a family of 7 was rear-ended by a motorhome. They suffered
extensive injuries. This family still faces an every day struggle to
help recover from the actions of this distracted driver. According to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2017, six teens
aged 16-19 died every day from vehicle crashes, and hundreds more
were injured. In this day and age, teenagers are constantly pressured
to be a ‘cool’ driver. Whether this means drinking and driving,
or piling many friends in the car, teens subject themselves to higher
risks of an accident. Through parental intervention, and individual
commitment, and law enforcement participation, the number of driving
deaths will likely decrease
In
the state of Colorado, youth are required to take a driver’s
education course prior to obtaining their permit. This course
provides youth with general driving safety. However, as many high
schoolers will agree most of this information will be forgotten
within a few months of obtaining this privilege. This is where
parental intervention needs to begin. Parents need to be teaching
their students how to drive as they would anything else, with
practice and lessons. If a parent simply puts their child behind the
wheel or only puts the responsibility on an instructor, the student
will not receive the same benefits. If a parent is active in their
child’s driving life, they will be familiar with their student’s
driving habits. This means the parent will be able to recognize
dangerous habits and personalize lessons to destroy these behaviors.
Parental
intervention is beneficial to solving this epidemic, however,
individual commitment is the heart of decreasing the number of
driving deaths. These individuals need to commit to 3 main ideas. I
have created the acronym SET, for this purpose. The S stands for
Silence. People should Silence their phones while driving to limit
distraction. E stands for Encourage. This means that youth should
encourage their peers to develop safe skills. Finally, there is
Target. Drivers should be able to Target dangerous behaviors, and if
possible express their concern for the person performing the
behavior.
Law
enforcement also has an important role in the protection of citizens
on the roads. These officers work hard to keep the roads safe for
every generation. However, their work on the roads hardly ever
reaches the classrooms. There are many parent-led programs to raise
the awareness of dangerous driving, such as MADD (Mothers Against
Drunk Driving), but programs run by officials, such as LEL(National
Law Enforcement Liaison) are less well known. Law enforcement
agencies have more sufficient resources and monetary ability than
other organized groups. With these sources, the dangers and
discouragement of dangerous driving would be adequately available in
classrooms, and agencies, through the support of officials.
The
community, law enforcement, parents and individuals must work
together to solve this issue. Through increased awareness and using
SET, youth will be on their way to safer driving skills that will be
passed on for years to come.
