Name: Virginia Conaty
From: Mequon, Wi
Votes: 0
I
remember when I passed my drivers test, the rush of relief and
excitement that came over me. I remember grabbing the keys with a
smile on my face and taking the car out by myself for the first time.
I remember bragging to my friends, saying how I could drive and they
couldn’t. I was like most teens, I never focused on driving safety.
I was too worried about impressing my friends, showing off how I
could drive or I was always in a hurry, trying to make it to work on
time. It’s so easy to lose focus on the things that really matter.
One
of the major causes of crashes in modern times is distraction on the
road. With the invention of phones, it is now ever too easy to lose
focus when you are driving. Luckily for most big, name-brand phones,
features have been installed to try and reduce the use of handheld
devices during driving. For example, on my apple phone I am able to
turn on a feature called “Do Not Disturb” which silences
all notifications on my phone. This allows for less temptation as you
will not hear a notification and be tempted to pick up your phone.
You can also try and create a group chat with you closest friends and
family so that you can text them whenever you are about to drive. You
can text them and say that you are going to be driving so please
don’t try and contact me for a few hours. This will limit the
number of notifications you are getting, decreasing the risk of
picking up your phone while driving. Raising awareness about driving
safety will also help reduce the number of accidents on the road. For
teenagers especially, hearing about road safety from someone their
same age will have an increased impact rather than an adult. Also
hearing stories from fellow teens about the times when they got into
accidents will make road safety more important to them. If another
person my age got into a crash, that means I also have a chance of
getting into an accident on the road.
There
are ways that you yourself can also advocate for road safety. Again,
you can spread awareness, but you can also be a defensive and
cautious driver. Being a defensive driver means anticipating other
drivers actions to reduce the risk of collision. It means watching
and respecting other drivers and preparing for any sort of action
that another driver or pedestrian might hurl at you. Defensive
driving is key to reducing the amount of deaths on the road and its
guidelines are so simple that anyone can follow them.
Drugs
and alcohol can turn a good driver into a bad driver. When teens are
with their friends, I understand how hard it can be to not give into
peer pressure. It’s hard to fit in and ‘be cool’ when everyone
around you is drinking or juuling. Don’t give in to the temptation
and instead leave. Driving under the influence is a good way to crash
or get pulled over easily.
Although
I have never been in a car accident, road safety has always been in
the back of my mind. It was never the most important thing to me as I
had never experienced a crash firsthand, but seeing the way others
around me drive has made me more aware of how dangerous driving can
be. I’ve seen my parents and friends speed, sometimes going 30 over
the speed limit. I’ve seen lots of people text and drive; even
glancing at strangers driving, I’ve seen them looking down at their
phone. Driving can be extremely dangerous, but with the right
education driving on the road can be safer and we can lower the
amount of deaths on the road, especially with teens.
