A moment of irresponsibility is not worth the same moment it could take to end a life.
Responsibility is the most important factor in helping to create a safer road for everyone. Approximately 36,000 motor vehicle crashes happen in a day, 37 people a day die from drunk driving, in a year over 3,000 from texting, and over 1,000 in a year from running red lights. These approximations (in the U.S) are not all the ways that can cause harm on the road, but these are some ways that would help prevent harm if people were just more responsible. Responsibility comes with first understanding the importance of driver’s education. As we understand its importance we can understand why not only having the knowledge of it is important, but actually applying it every single day is the most essential.
Driver education is what teaches safety and responsibility. It is the start of what every new driver needs, and is one of the first keys to creating better and safer drivers. Though a lot of crashes still happen, driver education is a big factor in why we have been able to prevent a lot more crashes and deaths. In the U.S alone there are approximately 1-4 million new drivers on the road. These are people who are probably afraid, cautious, and still learning the control of a car, and rules of the road. Not everyone of these millions of drivers take driver education, and not everyone of these million drivers follow the responsibility of the road. In order to prevent the thousands of deaths that happen a day we as a people have to see and understand that there is a reason why these classes exist. They are teaching us how to have control of a car, less fear with driving, road signs, signals, aspects of driving, laws, safety; and retaining this knowledge is the responsibility we need to withhold even before we enter our cars.
There are already a lot of risks when driving. This comes from the maintenance of a car, the unpredictability of cars, the unpredictability of people, the broken traffic lights, the unfinished roads, and the weather. These are all things that happen occasionally a year that we have to face and do not have control over. What we do have control over is ourselves. It starts with us. In order to reduce the deaths that happen on the road, we have to decide that lives are more important than speeding, drinking, showing off, texting, than imparity, than sweet cars, than racing etc. People have to not only understand, but apply the importance of teaching and following the laws of the road and passing it on to new drivers. This also comes with patience. Patience is a key to safety as well. If we as a people can be patient and just wait for the uber after the bar, wait for that light to turn green, wait to respond to that text. Calm down and wait before resulting in road rage, wait and observe the road signs, wait and patiently take drivers ed classes then we will not have to wait for the results of an accident.
I have had to wait for the results of two accidents which thankfully only results in damage to my own car. This was not because of responsibility, it was because of the weather and a blind spot of a semi truck; which are two things that are very hard to prevent. Already having to face these circumstances; I know the harm, damage, heart ache, medical records, medical bills, lives takes instantly; all these things that could be prevented from just making the decision to drive safer. Over 3,000 out of pocket damages I had to pay for, but that is nothing compared to a life. A family member speeding caused a crash which could have taken his life; spent months in the hospital and years recovering. A friend was involved in an accident that resulted in multiple deaths because of the irresponsibility of a driver who was speeding and drinking. This resulted in life changing actions for not only him, but the families of those who were fatally injured instantly.
Death is not something we can fix, it’s not something we can change just by facing the consequences, and it's not something an apology can reverse. Death is permanent. In order to prevent death we have to think about the ways we can save lives. Just because we may not talk about how many lives are saved by safe and responsible driving does not mean it isn’t millions. Just making that decision to wait can be the result of saving a life. Just by making the decision not to drink or text, prevents the risk, and saves many lives. Just making the decision to take the driver education class, helps save life. If we all follow the rules and laws of the road, and say no to the things that cause risk and wait and be patient with each other and the road regulations; then we can all create a safer place on the road for each other. It begins with us.
We are a generation of new drivers, new style cars, new engines, and customized cars. This is the world of technology and in due time many cars will be filled with tablets and features that also cause distractions. The best thing we can do in this evolving world is understand that a life is more important than a car or a moment. A moment of being cool, a moment of distraction, a moment of anger, a moment of impatience, or a moment of irresponsibility. A moment of unsafe driving is not worth the same moment it can take to end a life forever. Choose to save a life before even entering your car. Choose to be the change, and we all can create that change together.
Responsibility is the most important factor in helping to create a safer road for everyone. Approximately 36,000 motor vehicle crashes happen in a day, 37 people a day die from drunk driving, in a year over 3,000 from texting, and over 1,000 in a year from running red lights. These approximations (in the U.S) are not all the ways that can cause harm on the road, but these are some ways that would help prevent harm if people were just more responsible. Responsibility comes with first understanding the importance of driver’s education. As we understand its importance we can understand why not only having the knowledge of it is important, but actually applying it every single day is the most essential.
Driver education is what teaches safety and responsibility. It is the start of what every new driver needs, and is one of the first keys to creating better and safer drivers. Though a lot of crashes still happen, driver education is a big factor in why we have been able to prevent a lot more crashes and deaths. In the U.S alone there are approximately 1-4 million new drivers on the road. These are people who are probably afraid, cautious, and still learning the control of a car, and rules of the road. Not everyone of these millions of drivers take driver education, and not everyone of these million drivers follow the responsibility of the road. In order to prevent the thousands of deaths that happen a day we as a people have to see and understand that there is a reason why these classes exist. They are teaching us how to have control of a car, less fear with driving, road signs, signals, aspects of driving, laws, safety; and retaining this knowledge is the responsibility we need to withhold even before we enter our cars.
There are already a lot of risks when driving. This comes from the maintenance of a car, the unpredictability of cars, the unpredictability of people, the broken traffic lights, the unfinished roads, and the weather. These are all things that happen occasionally a year that we have to face and do not have control over. What we do have control over is ourselves. It starts with us. In order to reduce the deaths that happen on the road, we have to decide that lives are more important than speeding, drinking, showing off, texting, than imparity, than sweet cars, than racing etc. People have to not only understand, but apply the importance of teaching and following the laws of the road and passing it on to new drivers. This also comes with patience. Patience is a key to safety as well. If we as a people can be patient and just wait for the uber after the bar, wait for that light to turn green, wait to respond to that text. Calm down and wait before resulting in road rage, wait and observe the road signs, wait and patiently take drivers ed classes then we will not have to wait for the results of an accident.
I have had to wait for the results of two accidents which thankfully only results in damage to my own car. This was not because of responsibility, it was because of the weather and a blind spot of a semi truck; which are two things that are very hard to prevent. Already having to face these circumstances; I know the harm, damage, heart ache, medical records, medical bills, lives takes instantly; all these things that could be prevented from just making the decision to drive safer. Over 3,000 out of pocket damages I had to pay for, but that is nothing compared to a life. A family member speeding caused a crash which could have taken his life; spent months in the hospital and years recovering. A friend was involved in an accident that resulted in multiple deaths because of the irresponsibility of a driver who was speeding and drinking. This resulted in life changing actions for not only him, but the families of those who were fatally injured instantly.
Death is not something we can fix, it’s not something we can change just by facing the consequences, and it's not something an apology can reverse. Death is permanent. In order to prevent death we have to think about the ways we can save lives. Just because we may not talk about how many lives are saved by safe and responsible driving does not mean it isn’t millions. Just making that decision to wait can be the result of saving a life. Just by making the decision not to drink or text, prevents the risk, and saves many lives. Just making the decision to take the driver education class, helps save life. If we all follow the rules and laws of the road, and say no to the things that cause risk and wait and be patient with each other and the road regulations; then we can all create a safer place on the road for each other. It begins with us.
We are a generation of new drivers, new style cars, new engines, and customized cars. This is the world of technology and in due time many cars will be filled with tablets and features that also cause distractions. The best thing we can do in this evolving world is understand that a life is more important than a car or a moment. A moment of being cool, a moment of distraction, a moment of anger, a moment of impatience, or a moment of irresponsibility. A moment of unsafe driving is not worth the same moment it can take to end a life forever. Choose to save a life before even entering your car. Choose to be the change, and we all can create that change together.
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