Driving is a privilege that one gains when they turn sixteen and three months. With this privilege, comes responsibility for not only the high schooler’s life but the lives of others on the road. During the student’s high school years, teenagers are required to take a drivers ed course. In this course, young adults learn the importance of taking driving seriously and what can impair their driving abilities. Learning how the lack of sleep, alcohol, recreational drugs, and prescription drugs affects one’s ability to maneuver a vehicle effectively and safely is important to decreasing the amount of deaths caused by irresponsible drivers. Without drivers ed, many students would not know how these conditions affect their cognitive and reflexive abilities while behind the wheel.
According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel, more than 38,000 people die each year while driving. Not using cellular devices, drugs, or alcohol while driving can reduce the number of deaths due to irresponsible driving. If one does take part in drugs or alcohol, ensuring they have a designated driver will be the best course of action for the safety of themselves and others on the road. If one decides to take part in these actions but not use a designated driver, they not only are risking their own personal lives, but the lives of others around them.
When I was ten years old, my dad took me to his hometown to show me what a “snow day in Appomattox” was like. There, he got drunk and drove us home after the day was done. I was ten, so of course, I had no idea what a drunk person looked or acted like. He was weaving in-and-out of the lines, driving twenty to thirty miles over the speed limit, and he wrecked us in a tree. Because of the accident, I never rode with my dad ever again by myself. Whenever we passed the tree that we wrecked in, I just remember having to crawl out of the passenger seat and run to my mom. Since that day, I vowed to myself to never drink and drive because I never want to put my family through what I had to go through. Luckily, nobody got hurt, but he was lucky. My dad could have easily taken away not only his life that day but also mine.
My friends and I all recently got our license, so we have made an accountability chain. With this chain, we let each other know when we are leaving and arriving at a destination. We also make sure we are not using Snapchat or talking to each other while we are behind the wheel. We also ensure that if one of our friends cannot drive safely, that they have a safe way to get home. By doing this, we not only keep each other accountable, but it is a reminder for us all that we are loved by so many and that driving is a privilege not a right.