One Second to Change a Life

By. Kaylee Zuazua

OH MY GOD, WATCH OUT! A car had just hit a barrier right in front of us. I turned around in my seat to see the car repeatedly flipping over on top of the barrier. We were all in shock. My mom was crying and trying to drive the car. My dad was calmly calling 911. My father said, “Driving is so dangerous, Kaylee. This is why you have to always be alert.” That moment has stuck with me throughout my life. I’ve realized that one second can change a person’s life forever.

Reckless driving has always been a problem. The more crowded a city becomes the chances of an accident happening increases. It is impossible to make sure an accident never happens again. However, we can use preventative measures that will help us decrease or prevent some accidents from occurring. The number one key to reducing the probability of an accident occurring is education! We should start with teenagers. First, drivers ed courses should be mandatory in all high schools. Most importantly, it should be affordable to every income. This yearlong program will teach students the rules for driving by practicing in all conditions and roadways. This will give them experience on how to get to important places within their city. The second part of the course should be learning about consequences due to bad choices. Answer questions like what happens if I choose to text while driving or drink and drive. Lastly, a part of the course should be to educate the parents on good rules to set for their teen and the best way they can help them be a good and safe driver. This program will help our new drivers, but what about adults who already have their license?

Educating adults might be a little trickier. They have already developed and modeled bad habits. However, we need to find a way to educate adults. A part of updating your license should be to take an online course where they get a refresher course on the rules and consequence of reckless driving. If a licensed driver is caught disobeying the law then it should be mandatory for them to go through a full length in person education course. We need to make the consequences for reckless driving a little more uncomfortable, so that they are less likely to disobey the rules of the road.

We can’t keep everyone from breaking the laws or rules, but we can help people who want to drive safely know what a good driver should do. Education will give our communities tools for driving and will create a positive effect on our road ways.