My entire life, I’ve listened to each of my parents complaining about how dangerous other drivers on the road are or even, at times, how dangerous each other are when they drive. More than anything, though, I’ve listened to them complain to no end about people texting or otherwise using their phones while driving. I was always told that when I start driving, I should never, ever, use my phone. However, despite how much they insisted on how dangerous texting and driving is, I’ve witnessed both of my parents do just that. Whether it’s texting manually or using voice-to-text options, they’ve both done it, and still do it regularly. Beyond texting and driving, I’ve also had to deal with the aftermath of drunk driving. Though I wasn’t in the car when it happened, I had to witness first hand the consequences of repeated DUIs and the massive toll that took on my family. While luckily nobody was ever hurt, being seven years old and having to watch somebody you love go to jail for drinking and driving has a huge impact on you.
It’s because of these situations, watching my parents not follow their own rules and seeing how destructive a DUI can be, that I’ve decided to be a much safer driver. While it would be easy for me to look at my parents, who’ve never hurt anyone while driving irresponsibly, and say, “I guess I don’t need to either,” I know that’s simply not the case. I’ve seen far too many car accidents, especially right outside of my high school, to know that I shouldn’t make the same mistakes. To ensure that I will be a safer driver than those that I’ve witnessed, I keep my phone out of my reach while I drive so that, no matter how tempted I get, I won’t be able to look at it while I drive. Furthermore, I’ve decided to keep alcohol as far away from any vehicle as possible. If I absolutely must travel while intoxicated, I plan on using either a designated driver or, better yet, an Uber or Lyft. I also know that, because I’m still a relatively new driver, I could certainly be more observant of my surroundings. Learning to drive was very overwhelming for me, and it became easy to focus on just one thing while driving, when really I need to be paying attention to everything. That is a skill I am still developing and certainly plan on continuing to work on because the last thing I want to do is risk my life or someone else’s life just because I feel like indulging in a quick text message or because I wasn’t paying enough attention to my surroundings.
Each year, far too many people, especially young people, die as a result of reckless driving, and I think that happens in large part due to a lack of driver’s safety education. The entire time I was studying for my permit test or even taking behind-the-wheel lessons, I was never informed about the safest ways to drive, outside of basic road rules. I think the first step that should be taken to reduce the number of deaths is to have more in depth lessons that discuss the dangers of distracted or under-the-influence driving. If teenagers really understood, from the beginning, how dangerous these things are, there would be less people feeling tempted to do them or forming bad habits involving them. I also think utilizing things like drunk goggles would be useful in showing people just how distorted your brain can be while under the influence of alcohol. Many people don’t realize just how much your mind changes while you’re drunk, which makes them think it would be safe for them to drive. But, if they actually saw just how distorted things become, I think people would be a lot less inclined to drive while drunk.
Ultimately, though, I think the most important way for people to learn to drive safer is simply by having their parents be a good example. If kids watch their parents drive recklessly or while distracted but then never see any consequence of that, they’re going to subconsciously learn that those behaviors are safe and okay. But that is, unfortunately, not something that can really be enforced. Nobody can make parents be good examples to their children, which is why strong lessons about safe driving are so important. If we can’t make parents be good drivers, we must do everything we can to teach safe driving when teens are learning how to.