Solutions
are Needed Now
Brynn
Armstrong

This week I heard about a 4 year old boy who was crossing the street
in a crosswalk on his bike when a drunk driver hit him and killed the
boy immediately on impact. I knew the boys extended family and it
absolutely broke my heart. I have a nephew who is 4 also and thinking
of him being killed by a drunk driver would shatter my heart. Sadly,
in the US these events aren’t rare. Tens of thousands of people die
on roads every year. We need to educate drivers on the importance of
driving safely so that we can reduce the numbers of casualties. It is
very important to educate drivers because most people will drive at
some point in their life and it can be very dangerous. A way to help
reduce the casualties would be to educate people many times
throughout their life. Everyone has to go through driver’s
education to get a license but if we made them do refresher courses
it can help them to remember good practices. It also would be good to
make the stats of casualties on roads very public because they are a
powerful tool themselves. Most importantly, I think we need to share
stories on individuals who have been impacted by driving causalities
because real people can make more of an impact that numbers. These
emotional stories then will come to driver’s minds while they are
in the car which in turn can help them make better choices. We all
have been in the car with irresponsible drivers and it can be
absolutely terrifying and I wish those people understood how
dangerous they were being. I can be a safer driver by making sure I
am not being distracted by music or phones. I also can be a good
influence while others are driving to offer to call someone for them
so they aren’t on their phones. I want our roads to be safer so I
don’t have to worry about my nieces and nephews being killed by
irresponsible drivers.