Name: Crystal Jasper
From: Coalport , PA
Votes: 0
Unforeseen Dangers: Driving Safely
As a freshman in high school taking drivers ed I thought I knew it
all: don’t speed, watch the road, mind the weather, and don’t get
distracted. To my surprise, I learned so much more than that. I
learned that heavy snowfall is not the only thing that can make the
roads dangerous. Wet leaves and heavy rain make the road just as
unsafe as ice during a snowstorm. I also learned the basics of taking
care of a vehicle. The teacher demonstrated how to change a tire, how
to check the oil, and how to put air in the tires. Without my
drivers education course, I would have been stuck at college with a
flat tire because I didn’t know how to put air in it, and I might
have wrecked had I not known how dangerous it can be to drive on wet
roads.
Reducing the number of deaths per year caused by driving can be
solved by giving people the statistics, encouraging safer driving
habits, and enforcing all the laws related to safe driving. Most
people are not aware just how many people die every year due to car
accidents; making that more known might shock many people and give
them something to think about. Encouraging safe driving habits really
relies in the media. People that practice safe driving habits are
often portrayed in movies as the nerdy “do-gooders”, and the
people that drive recklessly are often portrayed at the cool
“rebels”. It’s time to change that stereotype. Enforcing the
laws that pertain to safe driving is critical as well. If someone
gets pulled over for speeding multiple times and never receives any
punishment other than a warning, no one will ever listen to the law.
In December of 2011, my sister and I were in a terrible car accident.
She was a senior in high school at the time, and I was in fifth
grade. It was senior skip day, but she was at the school doing
volunteer work. I had flute lessons that day and had forgotten my
flute, so my mom asked her to run me home and bring me back to the
school. She was angry that she was losing volunteer hours, so she
started to speed on the way home. Going around a sharp curve we hit a
patch of ice, swerved to the other side of the road, came back to our
side of the road, but continued to slide with such force we slid up
the side of the hill, causing the car to roll. The car rolled
completely around and again up onto its side and slid on its side for
50 feet. When the car finally came to a stop, I was hanging in the
air with nothing but my seatbelt keeping me from falling to the
pavement which was covered in broken glass. I carefully undid my
seatbelt, dropped to the ground, and crawled out the back window of
the car, which had completely fallen out. I was so disoriented and
scared I had forgotten where I was (and I had traveled this route
almost every day since I was 5). It took me over a year to get over
my fear of being in a car, and to this day I am still scared to drive
or ride in a car during snowstorms.
To be a safer driver, I have started to put my phone face down on the
passenger seat of the car, or in the cupholder if I have a passenger.
I always wear my seatbelt, as it had saved my life 7 years ago, and I
always tell my passengers to buckle up. If there is someone young in
the car with me, I always make sure they are secured safely in the
back seat. While driving, I will happily let people annoyed by my
driving the speed limit pass me on the high way. The most important
thing is to just be aware of your surroundings and be aware that
everything could change in a matter of seconds, all it takes is one
look at your phone, or one glance away from the road.
