Name: Lakshmi Kavil
From: Pleasant Hill, California
Votes: 0
A driver is
responsible for the lives in the vehicle being handled. If the driver
is distracted, then the chances of an accident is much higher. In
this society of increasing technology and gadgets and innumerable
forms of alcohol, driving safely has become a concern. I have been
lucky enough to not have been in a car accident, but I have heard
some stories that made me realize the dangers of the road and the
importance of driving rules. One such story was told by Alameda
Superior Court Judge Wendy K. Reynolds.
During my junior year of high school, we had a program called
‘Every 15 Minutes’ and this program focused on staging a realistic
situation of an accident where the victims die because the driver was
intoxicated or distracted. The sophomore and junior class were
gathered in the large gym while we listened to judge Reynolds tragic
story. She recalled the last night with her family. When Wendy
Reynolds was 5, a drunken driver’s truck jumped a road divider and
hit her family’s car head-on, killing her mother, father and baby
sister and almost killing her. Rescuers didn’t know she was in the
car until a neighbor asked where the little girl was. It was then
that paramedics looked under the car’s seat and found Reynolds, her
badly broken body wedged in the tight spot. Her survival was a
miracle, but she had to carry the burden of losing her family her
whole life. If the drunk driver had followed one the most basic rules
of drivers’ education, to not drink before driving, the family would
have lived.
Taking alcohol before or while driving, affects the ability to
concentrate, make good judgements and quickly react to situations.
Drivers ed is important because learning how to drive
correctly and follow road rules reduces the number of deaths due to
carelessness. In order to avoid accidents, drivers should avoid
alcoholic beverages thirty minutes to two hours before driving and
resist the urge to check social media and text messages. Apps like
‘LifeSaver’ block the phone while driving and uses a gps monitor for
parents to monitor their teen driver.
Since this is a social issue, there are many things I can do to
help myself and others drive safely. Some of them are: avoiding the
use of cell phones, avoiding alcohol, not distracting the driver and
driving only when emotionally stable and well rested. I can also let
people know of the consequences of unsafe driving and warn them when
they aren’t following the rules. I would want someone to warn me when
I am driving unsafely, because spreading the knowledge decreases
accidents and lifelong regrets.
