Name: Mira Gaede
From: Virginia Beach, Virginia
Votes: 0
Mira
Gaede
Driver
Education Initiative Scholarship
The
Importance of Safe Driving
Driving
has become one of mankind’s second nature. We have been getting on
buses to go to school and riding in cars to the grocery store for as
long as we can remember. With the increasing number of cars on the
road, there has been a negative increase in the amount of injuries
occurring. Unfortunately, road traffic injuries are now the leading
cause of death from ages 5 to 29 and that needs to change.
With
the appalling statistics on the average road deaths presented by the
World Health Organization, it is apparent that there needs to be a
universal change instilled in communities about safe driving. Safety
can be promoted in multiple ways; this can include intensifying
learning courses, requiring follow up safety lessons, and including
new safety technologies in all automobiles. I believe that an annual
DUI and information session that would be required by all registered
driver would cause a substantial change. The installation of a
program would create a universal understanding on how alcohol, drugs,
and other impairments affect driving. Knowing the effects before had,
will increase awareness and decrease road traffic deaths in this
sense.
The
effects of road traffic has impacted me on a personal level that I
hope others do not have to experience. In June there was a tragic
accident in Virginia Beach that included an unsafe driver that was
responsible for two minors that were in the vehicle. Jokenly driving
recklessly resulted in the flipping of the truck sending a passenger,
my best friend, out of the window. Unfortunately the passengers did
not utilize the very important safety measure of wearing a seat belt,
which intensified the situation. Not only did the narrow minded
driver put the passengers at risk by not driving safely and requiring
seat belts, but also put the people that were in the house he hit at
risk. Unsafe driving doesn’t only affect the people in the vehicle
but those on the outside as well.
It
is unfortunate that the results of road accidents are so high and are
still occuring in the ways they do. We must take an initiative as a
whole to try and decrease these statistics to provide a safer
practice to those on the road and future drivers. All aspects of safe
driving are important whether it be wearing a seat belt, not driving
when impaired, or simply using your turn signal and checking your
blind spots before changing lanes. Just remember that it does not
only affect you when not practicing safe driving.
