Imagine it, you’re 16 and finally able to drive. The years of having to wait for your parents to bring you places are over. You feel ready to take on the world as an adult. You have everything under control. But, do you really? Are you ready to have your life and everyone else’s in your hands? We all hear about these terrible accidents occurring on the radio. Most of them involving teenagers. But, why do we just switch the station? Why are we not surprised by these tragedies? The simple answer would be that we are just so used to it. The fact that an average of 34,000 people die a year in America from doing the “simple” task of driving is enough to make your head spin. It is time to fight back. So, what can we do? It starts with education.
A few years ago, my community was shattered at the loss of a high school senior right before graduation. It was an event that changed our school district forever. Her death was something that didn’t need to happen. Because of distracted driving, she will never get to experience getting married, starting a family, or achieving her dream job. She will forever be 18. This story has always been close to me. Though I was too young to drive at the time, it was something that made me nervous to even step foot near a car. She was such a young soul and we all thought that nothing bad could happen. But, it did. Our community could have avoided this heartbreak if we spent more time educating our new drivers about staying safe on the road.
As an EMT student, I have seen what car accidents can do to your body. You could break bones, get paralyzed, get brain damage, or even die from bleeding out. My instructor has mentioned that the majority of trauma patients she gets are from car crashes. Driving a car is so dangerous yet we all act like it’s a joke. It is important that driver education becomes a more normalized part of our society. Because we depend so highly on cars, we need to learn how to safely use them. And that starts with educating the youth. Teaching the young generations about seat-belt safety is the first step. It should never be normalized to not wear a seat-belt, even in the backseat. Though teenagers may argue against it, it is the safest way to ride in a car. A parent should always be telling their children to buckle up every time they get into any car. Though it may seem corny, seat-belts really do save lives. If at least one kid in a friend group makes their passengers get their seat-belts on, they are already safer. We must count on teaching teenagers to be responsible.
Another step in education is to warn against driving while distracted. Though it may seem important to send that text, it isn’t. Drugs, alcohol, and phones are the biggest antagonists behind driver’s deaths. The girl from my school was sitting in the passenger seat while her best friend, the driver, was driving while distracted.. Though it seemed fun and heartless at the time, she was forced to face the reality of this decision. We should be making social media accounts showing the truth behind distracted driving. Because our generation is attached to social media, this is the best way to reach us and warn us. Another way was recently added to my school. A drivers safety course taking the place of some p.e. classes. They taught us about the dangers of driving through activities for the students to participate in. From having a driving simulator to trying to ride a bike with drunk goggles on, the school was able to teach the students about driving in a fun way. This works better at getting the point across than lecturing kids about it.
A step that I am taking at learning to be a better driver is educating myself about the dangers while educating my friends as well. I have learned about the dangers of getting in an accident from my EMT class but I am also always asking my parents about being a safer driver. Because I was the first driver in my friend group and the only one training to be an EMT, I communicate with them how they can take steps to be safer on the road as well.