Don't be a statistic

I have been a licensed driver for two years now and I have had some very close calls on the road due to poor driver safety on behalf of the other drivers. I took drivers ed and I can honestly say one of the only things they covered heavily was drinking and driving, not really any other safety precautions. I strongly believe that if we start by teaching new and unexperienced drivers more than “don’t drink and drive” the roads will be a lot safer than they are right now. I also have taken a look at the statistics related to vehicular deaths/ fatal injuries and they are far more per year than I originally imagined. “More than 38,000 people die every year in crashes on U.S. roadways.” With this in mind we have a 1 in 107 chance of being in a fatal car crash every time we get in a vehicle. The number one leading cause of accidents is distracted driving. I don’t think I’ve met someone who isn’t at least slightly focused on something else other than driving while behind the wheel. It is human nature to want to do multiple things at once but people need to understand that this can not be the case when operating a vehicle. When you are the one driving not only are you responsible for your own safety, but now you have opened yourself to keeping those in your vehicle, other drivers, and pedestrians safe while you are on the road. I had a personal experience with this when my friend was driving my friends and I home from a party late at night. Before I left my mom made me look at the statistics on kids who get into accidents traveling in large groups together. Drivers with more than three passengers are 60% more likely to get in an accident than other drivers. When my friend was driving she was speeding on the highway and continued to neglect our request to slow down. We were pulled over going 86 in a 65 and she got her license suspended and we had to call to be picked up. Had we not been pulled over she could have lost control of the car and it could’ve easily have been all of our last breaths together. Since this experience I have always tried to be aware of my actions a little bit more when I have passengers in the car, this is a very responsible move and can keep me and the people around me safe. When accidents occur 62% of them are more fatal to the passengers. This is because SUVs and more spacious cars are becoming more popular which leaves more space between the front and back seats, even third row. There is an intersection in my township that is three ways with a stop sign and a yield sign. One direction has the right of way, then the yield, then the stop sign. The stop sign gets run quite often and causes lots of close calls. My teammate was riding in the backseat in a vehicle of someone who ran the stop sign and was immediately T-Boned by the car who had the right of way. The passenger in the backseat had to be immediately care flighted to the nearest hospital, and taken into emergency surgery because her leg and been crushed and her spinal cord was fractured and they were ready to pronounce her paralyzed because of it. The outside car that was involved was an expecting mother who wasn’t only concerned about her personal safety, but also the safety of her unborn child. Meanwhile the driver who caused the accident walked away with nothing more than a few scrapes and whiplash. This reckless action resulted in many catastrophic casualties, and very well could have costed multiple lives had they not gotten so lucky with their circumstance. There is no way I would be able to live with myself if I knew my irresponsibility costed someone or multiple peoples lives. Even is the passenger survived and became paralyzed I would feel so overwhelmed with guilt for taking their mobility away from them, and the grief the women would have felt had she lost her baby. Just being aware of this situation has opened my eyes and shown me that just because there’s only two people in the car does not mean only two people will be affected if something were to happen. In conclusion I hope that a difference is made to teach new drivers more than just the bare minimum safety precautions, and that people think about more than just themselves when making the decision to get behind the wheel of any vehicle.