Driving is a privilege and a major responsibility that should not be taken lightly. It is important to understand the reason there is a manual, a test and a 5-hour safety class required to obtain a learners permit to gain the reward of a driver’s license. All these measures are in place to not only help with understanding the rules of the road and developing driving skills but also teach and motivate safe driving habits. When you drive a car, you are controlling a powerful machine that can harm yourself, your passengers, other drivers, and pedestrians. Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding and distractive driving not only puts your own life at risk but everyone else on the road that you come in contact with.

Overall, I believe that I am a responsible driver. I took a defensive driving class, I never speed, I make sure that myself and all my passengers buckle their seatbelts, I do not text and drive, and I never get behind the wheel drowsy. However, I feel that as we become too comfortable and overconfident in our driving skills, our safety habits begin to decline, and we engage in more distractive behaviors. I am not exempt from this either. Too often while driving I will reach for articles in my car, interact with my friends, change radio stations and climate controls, listen to loud music, eat and drink and though hands free, I will talk on the phone. I understand that these habits are dangerous and could ultimately impact my life and the life of others by contributing to accidents that could potentially result in severe injuries or fatalities. There are far too many recent incidents reported on the news of serious accidents involving young drivers. Therefore, I am highly motivated to end any disruptive driving habits that I have been partaking in and to encourage my young counterparts to do the same.

Young drivers need to be educated to change our mindset. We must understand that safety comes first, everything else can wait. I continuously remind myself that every irresponsible action I take while driving can have a negative impact; it is not worth it, so don’t do it. We need to encouraged to have the confidence to have the necessary conversations with our friends on how to conduct themselves when riding as passengers in the car with us. It is the driver’s responsibility to ensure the safety of our passengers. Passengers will need to be trained in being mindful of how to protect the driver as well, which is also shielding themselves. Some of the prohibited behaviors are being too loud, engaging in silly behavior, and blasting the radio. The motto must be, if they don’t comply, they can’t ride.

There are other distractive behaviors that need to be enforced amongst young drivers that can have horrific consequences. For instance, all driving control settings should be set before getting on the road and no further adjustments should be made until we are able to stop or pull over. We should voice enable the navigation system so we do not take our eyes off the road to look at directions on the screen. My routine is to only talk on the phone hands free, but while driving it is best not to initiate phone calls, reduce talk time and limit answering calls while driving to accepting emergency calls only. Also, texting is an absolute no. One time while driving, I picked up my phone just to look at a text message and the car wheel hit the curb. Luckily, I just blew out the tire. I was fortunate because it could have been so much worse. That really shook me up and it was the last time I touched my phone at all while driving. Now, I immediately put my phone down before I start driving.

Furthermore, driving under the influence and speeding are very risky behaviors that must be prevented. These are my greatest fears when driving because many times they end up hurting others that are complying with the rules of the road. My mom has a close friend who was struck and killed by a drunk driver. Impaired driving and speeding are at the root of the majority of the fatal driving incidents that I have seen in the headlines over the years. The best way to educate against these is to make it mandatory to watch videos that show the extreme consequences of these destructive behaviors. All drivers should be required to complete annual continuous driver education to keep their driver license in good standing. Every driver should be obligated to watch safety videos, either followed by questions that must be answered correctly or they have to provide a number at the end that is randomly placed within the video to ensure that they have watched.

Implementing the above actions is bigger than winning this scholarship. I appreciate having to examine and pinpoint my own distractions while driving. This self-reflection will help me take the necessary measures to stop any behaviors that could lead to negative and irreversible outcomes. Each participant seeking this scholarship will now be more aware of their own disruptive activities that they perform while driving and the consequences of those actions. We will all be encouraged to manage our driving privileges more responsibly, which will make the roads safer for us all. Therefore, we all win!