EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION!!!

Dijoleil Fernandez

In the Driver's Seat Scholarship Essay

Education is key in all aspects of life, especially when it comes to driving. When it comes to drivers ed I believe it is extremely important to start teaching kids at a young age and repeat it as they grow older. This will help imprint these lessons on them and decrease the numbers of fatalities. If the public does not stay informed on how to drive safely they will not know what to do to avoid accidents and therefore get into them, which could cause death. Education will help prevent this.

Nowadays social media has a huge influence on the public. This is a strength and a weakness. Weakness because many deadly crashes are caused by drivers checking social media and not paying attention to the road. However, social media can also be a strength when it comes to educating the public. I have not really seen a lot of driver safety videos on social media but I have seen them on television. Shifting the focus from commercials to places like Twitter and Instagram could really get the public thinking. This will greatly influence young adults considering they are at high risk of accidents and are the ones mainly using social media. It is hard to stand out these days on social media, but I think that if safety ads could include big social media influencers or celebrities, the public will be more inclined to click on the video. Getting them to watch the video means more people are being educated and less chance of death.

I have been in a few unsafe driving situations. I actually crashed my father’s car. I was too worried about going to hang out with friends that I ignored the speed limit. I was going so fast that I ran into a pole. The car was unfixable and it was a horrible time for my family and I. I learned from that experience that I need to calm down and focus on getting places safely rather than quickly. Another unsafe situation has to deal with a family member driving intoxicated. As a kid I did not think I could say anything to stop him. He would say things like “I drive better this way” which is completely untrue. Even though I was so young I could have still tried my best to get him not to drive. I realize now that my life was in danger as well as many others. I take this as another learning experience.

Going through a few situations myself have inspired me to help stop these incidents. I constantly preach driver safety to my friends. I make sure they are all wearing their seatbelts and I actively act as a designated driver to my family members. I hate to think about all the people who have died from car accidents but looking at these remind me that I have to do something to help reduce them.