In 2024, there were over 30,000 deaths due to car accidents. These are all causes of drunk drivers, texting while driving, uneducated drivers, and more. Although it is impossible to say the exact number of uneducated drivers that caused these fatal accidents, or any accident for that matter, it is well known that not following basic laws due to being ignorant or uneducated are the causes of many accidents. Whether it is not putting on their turn signal while turning or changing lanes, pulling out in front of someone, not braking in time, not abiding by the traffic lights, etc., people get in a car and drive on the road, risking their life and everyone else’s life by not caring about the laws. This is extremely arrogant, and something needs to change in order to prevent the number of car accidents that occur.
One of the most reckless things a person can do is get in a car and drive while under the influence. One way to prevent this is to have someone outside places a person can drink at, such as a restaurant or a bar, and breathalyze people as they come out to make sure they are under the legal limit. If they are not, then the worker should take their keys away until they have an Uber or someone they know come pick them up. Although this might be difficult and be a lot of extra effort, it can greatly decrease the amount of accidents that occur due to drunk drivers. Another solution to reduce accidents is to make everyone with a license take a written driving test and hands-on driving test every five years to make sure that they still know all of the rules and are cautious while driving. Finally, my last idea to decrease the amount of accidents that occur is to require new drivers to complete more supervised hours before they are allowed to drive on their own, and to have some other way to document them. I know a lot of teenagers just want to get their license, so they lie about the amount of hours they actually completed; however, this can lead to them not receiving proper education on how to safely drive on the road. There should be an app created that tracks you everytime you drive somwhere and how long you were driving for, so there is less lying that is involved when completing the supervised hours. Also, teens should have to complete more supervised hours with an instructor than they do right now to increase the amount of driving that is watched by a professional. All of these changes will greatly decrease the amount of car accidents that occur.
One night my sophomore year, my friend was driving me home from a basketball game. We were getting off the bypass, when all of a sudden, we saw blinding lights coming straight at us. We tried slowing down quickly, but because we had just gotten off of the highway where we had been going 70 miles per hour, we couldn’t slow down fast enough. The car was flying at us, and my friend served to the right, trying to avoid the car, but the driver also served the same way. We slammed into each other, hard. I can never forget the sound that the cars made when they collided into each other; it was deafening. After the airbags went off, I was screaming, one because we had just gotten into a car accident, obviously, and two because I could not move my arm that was splayed across my ribs in a bent position. I got out of the car, and kept trying to move it, but everytime I would move it even a millimeter, the most agonizing pain shot from my collarbone all the way down my arm. My friend was freaking out, but she wasn’t hurt at all, and nor was the driver of the other vehicle. Thankfully, someone pulled over and asked if we had called 911 yet and if anyone needed an ambulance to come. Through my sobs and gasps, I told him I needed one, and then I called my mom. She says that this will be the one phone call she remembers for the rest of her life, and that it was the worst thing she has ever had to hear. I was screaming in pain, all while trying to tell her that we had just gotten into an accident and that I couldn’t move my arm. Soon after, the police, ambulance, and my mom showed up, and when I got into the ambulance, they figured out right away that I had broken my collarbone, and that it was a really bad break. I was devastated, considering I had surgery for my torn ACL and lateral meniscus six months before, and was still recovering from that. I was also extremely angry, because if the lady who was going up the exit ramp would’ve looked at the three “DO NOT ENTER” bright orange signs leading up to the ramp, this never would’ve happened. On top of all of this, she never apologized, asked us if we were okay, or anything. She kept repeating how she needed to meet someone, and didn’t know what road she was on. It was as if she didn’t care at all.
This horrifying experience has not only made me an extremely cautious driver, but has caused me to educate myself even more than I already was on how to drive safely. Before, I would sometimes go on my phone to send a quick text to my mother or to switch the playlist I was listening to, but now, I wait until I am parked to answer any texts, and I deal with whatever music I am listening to, because I know that it is not worth the consequences that could occur if I would get in an accident. I always use my turn signals, check my mirrors when changing lanes, and make sure every person in my car is wearing their seat belt, because I do not want to be the reason for someone’s trauma if we were to get into an accident. When someone is driving me somewhere, I make sure to watch our surroundings to make sure no one around us does something that would cause an accident. I get called a backseat driver all the time, but I would much rather be called that than dead because the person driving me wasn’t paying attention. As a driver, I have become extremely aware of my surroundings and always think of ways I can prevent an accident if the situation were to occur. The safety of myself, whoever I am driving, and the people driving around me is always my top priority. By creating stricter rules involving driving, everyone will be more educated on how to drive safely, which will lead to less deaths due to car accidents.