I
live in Houston, Texas where last year traffic fatalities equaled
3,567. That's almost 10 people dying a day because of bad driving.
All through my childhood I can remember sitting in the front seat as
a little kid one day aspiring to sit in the coveted left seat of a
car. Always letting my mother if she wasn't up to it I could drive
for her saying it was easy and I had been watching for years. I mean
how hard could it be to manage a wheel no different than on my wii
wheel on the tv and pressing to go and stop. Now that I'm eighteen
and have been driving for about 5 months i know its not nearly as I
once thought it to be. Stopping and going was just the beginning, now
I know there’s signaling, special rules and signs for certain
roads, and much more. One that I avidly try to enforce on my family
friends and really practice myself is signaling when turning and
changing lanes. I believe this is a truly critical part to being a
safe driver. Signaling not only allows you to more safely exit and
enter lanes but serves many other purposes as well. For example, when
you signal you allow other drivers to know that you plan to exit or
enter a lane giving them time to prep for your move and react
accordingly making a safe driving experience for everyone. As opposed
to changing into a lane without signaling letting other drivers have
no time to prepare. This is extremely dangerous, this puts drivers in
a position where they have to stop to try to avoid an accident with
the car that changed lanes with no signal opening themselves to
getting into an accident themselves. Furthermore I think that lots of
people’s attention goes to accident prevention and not to a routine
or system that has to be put in place after an accident has taken
place. Lots of people that get into accidents and develop an
injury, but do not realize it until after the accident and by that
time there is little that can be done. For instance about four years
ago, my mother was in “fender bender” accident that did not
result in lots of damage to her car. About 4 weeks after the accident
she started to have pains in her back and went to the doctor and
found that she had to have a small procedure. A dislocated disk in
her back was found to be the result of the accident that had taken
place. There are lots of people that develop injuries after accidents
and can’t have them properly taken care of because there is not a
defined system in place that instructs people on what to do after an
accident. If a system was to be put in place that clearly defines the
course of action after an accident it would help injuries and save a
lot of people having to climb mountains to deal with insurance
companies and the headaches that accidents bring. Driving is a huge
responsibility and should be taken as such not as a way to impress
people, a right or as a place to be distracted.