Name: Kaitlyn Rawlings
From: Prairie Village, KS
Votes: 0
Prioritizing
Safe Driving
By
Kaitlyn Rawlings
Being
a teenager in 2019, reckless driving is something that I have become
accustomed to witnessing, especially with the influence of social
media and texting. This is immensely worrisome for me, as this trend
is only seeming to increase, rather than decline. That is why
teaching drivers education needs to be a priority for today’s youth.
I
never really thought about driver safety until one of my classmates
passed away around two years ago. She was driving her sisters to
sports practice that day when she suddenly overcorrected a turn and
flipped her car off of the side of the highway, killing herself, and
putting her sisters in the hospital in critical condition. One of the
most devastating parts about this accident is that it could have been
avoided, as we were later informed that she was texting and driving.
Though this incident was tragic, it changed my point of view on
driving forever, because I was now shown a real life example of the
consequences of reckless driving. Beyond changing just my point of
view, it also changed my actions as from that day on I started being
a lot more attentive when driving.
Sadly,
this example is just one of many situations that could have been
avoided with more extensive driving education. I believe one of the
ways to counteract this epidemic is to start teaching driver’s
education in schools from an early age and to make drivers safety
more of a priority as a society. Children’s minds are extremely
impressionable and malleable, so if schools started instilling the
importance of driving safety early on, that would make a significant
impact for when these kids reach driving age.
It
is important to not only teach the rules of driving safely, but also
teach how to be a good defensive driver. Not everyone is going to
drive safely, but if people are given the knowledge on how to avoid
dangerous drivers and car accidents, it could greatly decrease the
amount of lives lost to car accidents; however, schools can not do
all of this work alone.
It
is up to society to continue teaching and reminding each other on the
importance of driver safety. For example, driver safety needs to be
more of a discussion at home and people need to set a good example
for what safe driving looks like. This includes, driving with a
seatbelt, driving the speed limit, focusing on the road, and never
driving under the influence. Many unsafe drivers are a result of
learned behavior, so if we all placed more of a significance on
setting a good example of safe driving, there would consequently be
safer drivers. I believe that all of this could drastically decrease
the amount of lives lost to unsafe driving.
