The Ferrari Experience

It’s your first day out on the big roads.  For once, your dad is actually in the passenger seat and you are behind the wheel.  You just got your driver's permit and you are sitting in the DMV’s parking lot going through your checklist in your head.  Seatbelt on? Check. Engine started? Check. Mirrors in position? Check.  Phone in the glove box?  Check.  You are ready to go.  As you begin to back out of your nicely parked car (thanks dad!) you forget to check your mirrors to see if anyone was coming from either direction.  Your dad begins yelling at you to stop the car and check your mirrors!  And it was a good thing that he did too!  Just as you pull back in to restart your backing up job, a bright red Ferrari whizzes past you.  “Phew!  That was a close call!” you think.  As you sit there thinking, you begin to wonder and ask a few questions. How many people die deaths related to driving? What steps can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving? What steps can you take to be a better and safer driver as well as help others become safer on the road?  The moment you safely drive home, you get on your computer and get answers to all of these questions.  You find out that approximately 1.35 million people die in road crashes each year.  You are shocked! But you continue to read the article on asirt.org.  It states that on average 3,700 people lose their lives every day on the roads. Not only that, but an additional 20-50 million suffer non-fatal injuries, often resulting in long-term disabilities.  This is crazy!  Now that you are considered a legal driver (with a parent, of course!) you begin to think about your part in this.   “What steps can I take to reduce the number of deaths related to driving?” is the next question on your mind.  You start doing some more research.  You find that you must be alert at all times if you want to play a safe part in the driving experience.  You cannot be sleeping at the wheel.  You have to be focused.  You make all these notes in your driving notebook so that you will remember it in the future.   The next question that you think of is “what steps can I take to be a better and safer driver as well as help others become safer on the road?”  You begin to make a checklist.  1) put away your phone, 2) buckle up, 3) keep your car in good shape.  You continue writing until you have filled a page with ideas.   By doing this research, you are now motivated to keep the world a better and safer driving highway.  You are excited to drive new roads as you buckle up and you keep focused on the task at hand.  Driving safely.