Name: Olivia Aldridge
From: Mooresville, North Carolina
Votes: 0
One
Less Plate
It’s
sunday night and you family has sat down for dinner with a plate
where you usually sit. They are waiting for you to get back from
going out with your friends. Your mom gets a call, and the next
night, there is one less plate set out on the table.
Car
accidents are the number one cause of death for teens today. Taking a
drivers ed class can help reduce these tragedies. Drivers
education helps teens to fully realize the danger of cars. By showing
teens how cars can go out of control on ice and water as well as
demonstrating the detrimental effects of impaired driving, teens will
take cars more seriously as being a vehicle of mass destruction
instead of a cool 16th birthday gift. Car accidents can be reduced by
removing the societal norm that driving is a game. For example, a lot
of kids have grown up playing with cars that jump over ramps or
driving small battery powered cars around the driveway. This
conditioning of seeing cars as a toy and a game will prove to be an
issue when these kids grow up. Teens think they can drive recklessly
because they subconsciously remember how they played with cars as a
kid. This can be reduced by having children’s toy manufacturers use
different vehicles like monster trucks or trains that the majority of
kids will not be driving as teens on a daily basis so teens are not
influenced by the past experiences of reckless driving.
Last
week when I was driving home at 7 at night I was behind someone that
was smoking marijuana while driving. It was scary for me because the
man was swerving and driving slow but I did not pass him because I
did not want to get hit. I did not know this person but they were
definitely severely impaired by the drug. The step that myself, other
teens, and the man smoking marijuana while driving can take to become
a safer driver is realizing the consequences of our actions. A teen’s
brain is not fully developed until they are 25 so they cannot fully
comprehend the consequences of their actions. Drivers ed does
an excellent job of informing prospective drivers the dangers of not
following the rules of the road. By showing teens examples of what
can happen with impaired and reckless driving, motor vehicles will be
seen as a vehicle that can do mass destruction rather than a fun new
toy to play with in the driveway.
