Imagine driving fifty miles per hour down a highway, when an inattentive truck driver turns left on a red light, runs into you, and flips your 3-ton vehicle, totaling it completely. This happened to my dad in Lenoir, North Carolina after he left my aunt’s house a few days after Christmas. He was driving home to Florida with his girlfriend and our 11-year-old Labrador Retriever, Angel. Miraculously, no one died in the wreck. Each passenger suffered physical injuries and had to go to the emergency room. In addition to the physical and emotional trauma from the accident, my dad had to pay thousands of dollars in medical expenses, he lost all personal possessions that were in his truck, and he lost his Ford Expedition, which he had put several thousands of dollars into repairing weeks prior, all for an accident which he did not cause. Distracted driving is irresponsible and is not a victimless act. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2019 alone, distracted driving killed over three thousand individuals in the United States.
After this accident, I wondered why the other driver turned at a red light. The driver at fault was a young man, 22 years old, about the same age as me. Was he distracted by his cellphone? From my personal experiences, I know how distracting a cell phone can be while driving. Years ago, I totaled a car as a direct result of changing music on my cell phone. Despite the hundreds of “Don’t Text and Drive” Campaigns and other ads that I have come across to promote safe driving, I still chose to use my cell phone that day. I was irresponsible and as a result, I totaled my car and caused great damage to the truck with which I collided. Unfortunately, I was unable to carefully consider the dangers of distracted driving until I first handedly experienced the consequences. 
I believe that driver education is important, and that it is the responsibility of all drivers and future drivers to take driver education seriously. At my high school, in-person driver’s ed class was not an option. To get my driver’s license, I simply took an online driver’s ed course - which took me less than a day to complete, I passed the Class E knowledge test, and I passed the Driving Skills test at the DMV. In retrospect, I think that I was given my driver’s license prematurely. I was inexperienced, sometimes reckless, and I was unaware of the impact my driving had on those around me. I wish that my high school offered in-person driver’s education classes because skilled driving takes practice and requires real world application. I believe in-person driver’s education classes should be offered in all high schools across the nation and that it should not only be an election, but a requirement for all students who wish to become drivers. To reduce the number of driving related deaths, I believe driver’s education needs to be accessible and needs reform.
In conjunction with requiring driver’s education to be taught in-person, I believe students need to see images of injuries and fatalities caused by driving accidents. The Montana Meth Project, which was launched in 2005, is a messaging campaign which graphically shows unsettling images of meth users on billboards and online ads. The images show scabbed skin and missing teeth of meth users, women willing to prostitute themselves for drugs, before and after photos, and more. The billboard that I found most profound was of a battered woman bloody and bruised, laying on the kitchen floor with a text, which read, “My mom knows I would never hurt her. Then she got in the way.” The approach is radical, but effective. According to MontanaMeth.org, the Meth Project “has been credited with significant declines in Meth use and was named the third most effective philanthropy in the world by Barron's. Since the Project's launch, teen Meth use has declined 63 percent in Montana” (Montana Meth Project). The Meth Project works because humans respond to visuals. People care and do not want to knowingly cause harm. On average, I do not believe people know the tremendous impact distracted or reckless driving can cause. I believe that as part of driver’s education, young impressionable people need to see disturbing images of car accidents caused by careless driving. People do not want to believe in something that is ugly until they see that it is true. Seeing the consequences of careless driving could prevent driving related accidents if we are willing to take a radical, effective approach like the one taken by the Montana Meth project.
To become a better driver, I will personally never use a cell phone while driving again. I believe this is the safest way to prevent an accident. I also will ask my friends and family members to consider the realities of unsafe driving more comprehensively.



Works Cited
Montana Meth Project. “ABOUT US.” Montana Meth Project, montanameth.org/about-us/.
NHTSA. “U Drive. U Text. U Pay.” NHTSA, 15 Mar. 2021, www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving.