Name: Madelyn Adkinson
From: Youngsville, LA
Votes: 0
According
to a study conducted by the AAA Foundation of Public Safety 1 in
every 5 fatal crashes are caused by an unlicensed driver. Many people
could argue that if that person had simply waited to be licensed in
order to drive then they could have saved a life. When taking drivers
ed, you learn many very important skills that you need in order to
drive cautiously and properly on the road. These skills are necessary
in ensuring that you drive safely and stay wreck free, guaranteeing
that you don’t accidentally end up in what could be a fatal car
accident. This is why drivers ed is important. According to
the Center of Disease Control over 3 million people die each year in
a car accident and if 1 in 5 are due to an unlicensed driver than
that’s 600,000 deaths caused by unlicensed drivers. If everyone
played a part in and passed drivers ed before getting on the road the
number of deaths as a result of driving could be drastically reduced.
To
add on, I believe that two major steps can and should be taken before
anyone ever gets into the driver’s seat of a car. One, I think that
they should have to do a breathalyzer. If every car had a
breathalyzer in it that had to be passed in order for the car to turn
on the number of drinking and driving accidents could be reduced
significantly. According to the CDC, every day 29 people die from
drunk driving accidents. If we used breathalyzers in cars this number
could potentially be reduced all the way down to zero. Second, I
think that every car should have an electronic sensor that can
establish whether or not electronics are being used in cars and
require that they be powered off before the car will start. According
to icebike.org, approximately 1.6 million car crashes each year have
a cell phone involved in them. Just think of how much we could reduce
this number by using our advanced technology in order to prevent the
use of cell phones in cars.
Furthermore,
I have never been in a car accident before but my mother has been in
two. The first one was her fault. She was on the interstate and
suddenly everyone hard braked and she was texting, not paying enough
attention, causing her to not brake in time and hit the car in front
of her. If her car had required that her phone be off before starting
this wreck could have been prevented, but luckily nobody was hurt.
Sometimes, I see people forget to use their blinkers or speed. It is
a constant reminder to me that these actions are dangerous and can
have tragic results.
Finally,
In order to be a safer driver, I can be sure to never use my phone
while driving, be sure to never turn my music up to a distracting
level, never have anxiety or anger inducing conversations while
driving, never drink while driving or drive after I’ve been drinking,
never let how other drivers behave get the best of me, and always pay
attention to the road and everything around me. In order to help
others become a safe driver, I can remind them to never pick up their
phone, never drink and drive, to calm down when they are cut off or
someone around them offends them, and always pay attention.
