Name: Avery Alishouse
From: Newcastle, Wyoming
Votes: 0
There
is one action that makes driving safer for everyone on the road;
using a brain. It does not even have to be yours! Simply obtain a
brain and use it to interpret information gathered primarily through
the sense of sight. Many fatal accidents occur due to someone not
using their brain to make proper choices. Decisions such as “I will
answer that snap really quick” or “I only had two beers” are
brainless choices. A drivers ed course aims to provide
young drivers with information about intelligent choices to make
while driving. Students who have taken drivers ed will have a
heightened awareness of smart and not so smart choices on the road.
The course can also help combat the invincibility complex many young
drivers seem to have; i.e. driving to fast for the conditions or not
wearing a seat belt. Young drivers need a wake up call; something
shocking. Unfortunately, this usually comes with the death of a
friend, relative, or acquaintance. It would be poor form to kills
someone’s friend in a vehicular accident so, each year Freshman
Impact comes to my region to teach freshman students about good and
bad life choices, many of which revolve around driving. The program
includes videos, skits, and true stories of vehicular accidents. This
year they brought a highway patrol car that had been totaled in an
accident. They left it in our high school parking lot for a week with
a sign reading; “the seat belt saved his life”. This program is
beneficial, other states likely have something similar, but it could
be a general idea to implement across the United States.
The
phenomenon of not using a brain is called mindlessness. Many people
are prone to this however, few actively work to combat it. My brother
suffers from this problem. He and I commute 60 miles each day for
school, the third day he drove alone, he backed out of his parking
spot without looking behind him and bashed the door of a new dodge
truck. It is a driver’s responsibility to make sure their vehicle
does not hit another, and he is taking responsibility for his
actions. He learned from his mistake and is much more aware now. The
other side to using a brain while driving is making connections. When
my dad taught me how to drive, he also told me about different
conditions I may have to drive in occasionally. Now that I have
commuted for two years, I have experienced some of the conditions he
told me about. Despite talking me through how to handle them before I
began driving alone, I learned it is one thing to listen to how to
drive in it vs. driving in it. He was not kidding when he talked
about ice fog with the consistency of pea soup. A good driver must
continue to learn by making connections between choices and outcomes;
even highly experienced drivers have something new to learn.
