I believe we each have a civic duty to our community. Yes, we should vote, and yes, we should volunteer at food banks, but I am talking about a civic duty that is less noticeable. I believe we must address specific issues that our towns face. Our duty is to improve our cities and towns because, as residents, we know our homes the best. In my hometown, we have extremely high vehicle collision rates involving teen drivers, so I was determined to make an impact in my city.
When teenagers get their driver's license and feel the fresh air hitting their faces while driving down the highway, they experience an indescribable sense of independence. This feeling does not go away for many months to come. They start driving their friends around, going to parties, and starting to feel more and more like adults. Though many teenagers look forward to this freedom, it can be a stressful day for their parents. The number one reason for teenage deaths is motor vehicle crashes. Teenagers 16–19 are three times more likely to get in a car crash than people over 20 years of age (CDC, 2022).
In North Carolina, the counties with the highest teen crash rates are Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, Cumberland, and Union (Maddox, 2022). As a student , seeing my county in the top 5 out of 100 counties hits home. Most crashes are due to lane departure, speeding, and alcohol-related issues (Maddox, 2022). Though I do not have a solution for every problem, two of these reasons can be remedied. Teenagers should not be drinking and driving; however, with this newfound freedom, many do. As a high school student, I see how different things like peer pressure and increasing anxiety levels cause more teenagers to drink alcohol. Teenagers may also find speeding exciting, so they often speed to impress their friends. I also believe the use of cell phones could be to blame for many teen driving accidents. Though many steps need to be taken to fix these problems, I can say from personal experience that safe teen driving is not stressed enough in schools. While I was in driver education, I received minimal education on the consequences of reckless driving and did not grasp how serious the ramifications could be. I believe if it is talked about more, teens may think twice before driving senselessly.
Recently, a close friend of mine nearly died while driving intoxicated, so I became very passionate about our teen driving issue. I decided to write a letter to our governor, Roy Cooper, simply to make him aware of an issue that can quickly snowball before he even notices. Since teenagers and this coming generation are our future, I believe it is imperative that we tackle this road safety issue while we still can. I do not have a clear solution; however, I designed wristbands and flyers that lay out the causes of collisions in Fayetteville: driving while intoxicated, speeding, and using cell phones. They also encourage students to think twice and drive safely since it is a choice we make when we take the wheel. With every parking pass purchased, I gave students from my school a wristband and flier to hopefully start a better trend and encourage them to drive attentively. I plan to expand this campaign to other high schools in my area to reach more students and hopefully change more lives. Many schools already provide drivers education to their students or have their student drivers pay for a parking pass. These are two instances in which the school can directly reach the students to better inform them of how they should drive. Since changing the driver education curriculum would be a huge undertaking, I believe passing out fliers and wristbands would be a simple and engaging way for students to learn. Though making ads or an app to encourage safe driving would reach a wide audience, to reach teenagers in a safe environment like their school, an advertisement may be overlooked while a wristband would catch their attention.
I truly believe in having initiative and taking action when there is a need in your community. Safe teen driving is a specific need that I addressed in my community; however, I hope to run more projects and campaigns in the future. As I said before, it is our civic duty to help our cities and be the change we want to see. I hope that through this project I have reached teen drivers and encouraged them to drive safely, but above all, I hope to have shown them that even though we are young, we can still make a difference. I would like to encourage you to think twice about North Carolina's teen driving issues, and I hope you consider these ideas.