Put
the Phone Away to Keep the Accidents Away

Many
car accidents are caused by fifteen-year-old high schoolers, who have
just received their permit or license, all the way up to
mid-twenty-year old college kids who are probably at parties, getting
drunk or high. The rush of finally being able to drive yourself
anywhere you want can be overwhelming and if that isn’t controlled
and explained, bad choices could be made.


Making
a Drivers ed class mandatory instead of optional would help
students understand the importance of wrong decisions and the
consequences that they will have. Parents also should be educated as
well because laws have changed since they began driving. A parent
should show their actions working and obeying the law when an
upcoming driver is in the car to set a good example for them. Current
phones have a program that can tell a caller that they are driving
and cannot use the phone right now, but most drivers ignore that
feature and bypass that feature so that they can utilize the phone
while they drive, which sets a bad precedent that a learning driver
could unintentionally pick up.

I
have seen some of my family members and friends driving irresponsibly
like driving too fast around corners, driving over the speed limit,
and driving while looking at stuff on their phones. During those
scenarios, I get to be very tense because I now anything could happen
because they’re making an inappropriate choice that endangers
everyone in the vehicle. I try and offer my assistance, but they
usually deny my help because they think they know what they’re
doing.

I
can do a lot of things to make the car a safer environment for me,
for the driver, and for everyone else in the car. If the driver is
texting, I could ask them if I could have the phone and text who they
were talking to for them, or if they’re changing the channels and
volume, I could take over for them and ask them what they’re
wanting to do so that I can do it for them. If someone is sitting
next to the driver, they should be the copilot of the car, doing
everything for the driver except driving so that the driver isn’t
distracted by everything else they’re doing. Being able to help the
driver with what they need help with will help you as the future
driver, knowing that you don’t need to do everything and it’s
okay to let people around you help so that the car is another safe
place and isn’t a hazardous place where people hope they don’t
get hurt.