Regarding young drivers, education is important in instilling good driving habits. Along with the extra patience that parents sometimes find difficult to have when teaching their teenager to drive, taking a driver’s education class through their school also helps them understand the rules of the road. Taking a driver’s ed class also gives teen drivers an insurance cut, as they are expensive to insure. Many adult drivers develop bad habits throughout their years of driving. Things like tailgating, rolling through stop signs, speeding through yellow lights, and even having road rage. A driver’s education course teaches teenagers how to drive on the road to protect themselves and others. It also gives instructors the time to discuss the importance of driving without distractions. Explaining the startling results that distracted driving can cause is extremely important for instructors to do.
According to DmvEdu.org, more than 34,000 Americans die each year in driving-related accidents. These numbers are unprecedented and do not seem to be slowing down. Distracted driving is the number one leading cause of accidents in the United States. This includes texting, using your phone, adjusting the radio or using the screen in the car, eating, and being distracted by other passengers in the vehicle. I have been working in the public school system for four years, and in that time, I have seen the addictiveness of cell phones that plague children and teenagers. Most teens cannot go for minutes without checking their Snapchat streaks or sending a Snapchat message. It’s not just teens; cell phones are the number one thing I see adults on as well. When we wake up in the morning, the first thing most of us do is touch a button on a screen.
To reduce the number of deaths related to car accidents, reducing the distractions in a car is what is needed. Maryland has made it illegal to be on the phone unless it is hands-free; this is targeted toward phone calls and texting. Texting and driving is illegal in most states, but not all. Making texting and driving illegal in all states is a start to stop distracted driving that can lead to possible car accident-related deaths. Creating harsher penalties for those who are caught. I understand that it is not easy for a police officer to spot each and every person who is on their phone texting. I believe that an increase in traffic stops for drivers spotted on their phones, along with fines, might reduce the number of those who tend to be on their phones while driving. This is an example of a step being taken to lessen distractions by driving. As newer and newer models of cars are made, they all have built-in computer screens, which creates more distraction. If companies stopped putting these screens in, distraction in that make and model could be reduced.
When one of my older cousins was in college, her mother went to pick her up from university for Christmas break. The university was in the mountains, and it was lightly snowing on the way home. On the highway, a driver on the opposite side of the median was speeding in the inclement weather. The speeding and the weather caused that driver to lose control of their car, fly over the median, and hit the car my aunt and my cousin were in. Despite having her seatbelt on, when my aunt awoke, she saw her daughter hanging out of the passenger side door. The door was gone, and her lifeless body was half hanging out of the car. When my aunt retells this story, tears fill her eyes. When she awoke and looked over, she thought her daughter was dead, and at that moment, she started to pound her fist against the steering wheel, breaking her wrist. My cousin lived; her pelvis and hips were shattered. Her road to recovery was a long and hard one. Fifteen years later, she still has pain in her hips and always will. To this day, my cousin still fears driving in any weather that is not pure sunshine.
I have a family friend who, as a teenager, got in a car with a drunk driver. The accident was so bad that she was medevacked to the nearest trauma center. The cranial injuries that she endured required her to receive more than one brain surgery. She ended up contracting Hepatitis A from a blood transfusion. A few years later, she made the same decision. To get in a car with a drunk driver again. This time, she endured far more cranial trauma, placing her into a coma for several weeks for her brain to recover from yet another set of brain surgeries. This left her blind in her left eye.
To be a better driver, I can put my cell phone in the back of the car where I cannot reach it. My phone does connect via Bluetooth, and I can take phone calls hands-free by just pushing a button on my steering wheel. As an individual, I have to make a conscious decision to be the best driver I can be. Making the decision not to eat while driving keeps my focus on the road and my hands on the steering wheel where they should be. While I drive with others, I need to ensure they do not add to any distractions. I have to ensure they are not asking me to look away from the road at any time.