Name: Madison Jean McCallough
From: Oroville, CA
Votes: 0
Serious
Impact
I
never wanted to be a driver. Watching the news, seeing a car crash
every other day, had effectively frightened me. I would never want to
cause anyone harm (by accident or not) and I knew that operating a
vehicle was not a responsibility that I was prepared for. However,
my mother had not agreed to be my chauffer for the rest of my life,
so getting my license was necessary. But, upon taking the required
drivers ed class at school, I realized that driving didn’t
have to be as scary as it had seemed to be. Driving is an amazing
freedom that comes with genuine responsibility. Only when this
responsibility is neglected does the road become a place worthy of
being frightened of.
It
is simple to have these realizations for oneself, but much harder to
force them on other people. And unfortunately, there are many other
drivers besides myself on the road. Above all else, educating the
masses is the key to preventing the thousands of unnecessary deaths
that occur in America each year. Everyone needs to be made aware that
their actions and decisions on the road can impact far beyond
themselves.
Two
years ago, a boy drove with his girlfriend to go grocery shopping for
his birthday party. After exceeding the speed limit by over thirty
miles per hour and failing to turn in time, his girlfriend died on
impact upon hitting a utility pole. I will never to be able to forget
going to school the next day. There was a moment of silence during
the morning announcements, and all I could hear was the muffled sobs
of those who knew her trying to stop themselves from crying. They
were both seniors that year, and her seat was empty at graduation.
Young people have the tendency to believe they’re invincible. We
are willing to accept that these tragedies and lapses of judgement
happen, but we do not believe that they will happen to us.
But when you take hold of the wheel, you hold the lives of the people
around you, and until we as a population take notice of this, nothing
will change.
So,
how do we change the way we as a population view driving? It begins
with supplying drivers with the necessary skills and experience it
takes to stay safe on the road. But much more than this, it takes
brave individuals to speak up, to point out irresponsible behavior
and share the serious implications of being a driver. It takes you.
Change requires you to stop and think before operating a vehicle.
What are you risking by getting behind the wheel? And are you willing
to lose it just for a moment of recklessness?
