It
was a peaceful, sunny summer day after football practice. Like any
other day, I was just leaving practice on my way home, and then BANG!
I was just involved in a car accident caused by a reckless driver who
was racing another car. The ironic part is it wasn’t a stranger but
my own teammate from practice who caused this accident. If I hadn’t
slammed on my brakes the second before we hit, I probably would not
be here typing this essay. Luckily, even though our cars were both
totaled, we were both okay. Unfortunately, this lucky ending is not
the case for tens of thousands of people who are involved in
accidents each year. That is why we, as society, need to bring
attention and focus to making our roads a safer place to commute on.

I
have been driving since my sophomore year, but I do understand I am
nowhere near being a good driver and still have a lot to learn.
Little things I can do to improve my driving is: leaving two hands on
the steering wheel, checking my mirrors even when not turning or
changing lanes, and letting the driver behind me have plenty of
notice before I to slow down or come to a stop. The biggest
improvement I can make is not using my phone when behind the wheel at
all, and that even includes when stopped at red lights. Driving while
on the phone is one of the main causes of crashes and even deaths on
the road.

Last
year alone there was around 40,000 people who died in a car accident.
A way to lower the numbers of deaths would be spreading awareness to
not only teens but to adults as well. A way to spread that awareness
is talking about it in different places of people’s lives. Such as:
the news. commercials, meetings for jobs and clubs and word of mouth.
Any type of awareness is helpful.

Driver
education is also a key factor for upcoming drivers or drivers that
are aware of the rules on the road. When a teen first goes to driving
school, that is the place where good and safe habits need to be
instilled so the teen can use them and pass it on to the next person.
It isn’t too late to educate adults as well. Some ways to reach
them is by: safety campaigns, police officers, news, and each other.

Driving
can be fun and hold great adventures, but is serious business too,
and can NOT be taken lightly. It is literally a life and death
endeavor. That is why proper education and training is needed in
order to have safer roads. Just one person being a responsible driver
can quite possibly save one or even more lives.