Safer Drivers for a Safer Future

Wulf
Holden

24
March, 2019

Safer
Driving for a Safer Future

Studies
have shown the impact of unsafe driving on the lives of U.S citizens.
On average, 34,000 Americans die each year as a result of car
crashes. Though there are numerous ways people can drive unsafely,
the issues that I have firsthand witnessed are texting and driving in
addition to driving under the influence of either drugs or alcohol.

An
important part in reducing this number of casualties and making the
roads safer is educating drivers. Drivers ed had taught me a lot
about the risks of distractions while driving. In Colorado, where I
took drivers ed, they put a lot of focus on making sure that we
understood that we are not only responsible for ourselves while we
drive, but people with us and in other vehicles while we are behind
the wheel. With the threat that reckless driving brings to our lives
and others I believe that drivers ed classes should spend just
as much time discussing the dangers that reckless driving poses as
they do teaching the rules of driving.

I
believe that inflicting stricter texting restrictions would help to
reduce the number of deaths in addition to stricter and more laws
dealing with alcohol and drugs. If you test positive for alcohol and
drug use, that can go as a charge for reckless endangerment if
someone’s breath is over a certain level on the breathalyzer I
believe they should automatically spend a night or two in jail for
endangering others.

While
I have never been in an accident, I have witnessed accidents caused
by distracted driving as well as seen my peers drive under the
influences of alcohol. It is the worst after Friday night football
games. I have seen countless high school students driving while
either drunk or high and it is unsafe for them and other drivers on
the road. One student at my school passed away this year as a result
of a drunk driver. Had this driver stayed sober, we would still have
him here with us.

There
are some areas that I need to improve about my driving as well. I
have a tendency to change my music often which requires me to look at
my phone. In many ways a phone is just a big a distraction as driving
drunk. They both require your attention to be away from the road and
a phone actually requires your eyes to be completely off the road
while they are on your device. One way I can change this is to pre
select the songs I want to listen to before I get into the car so I
do not have to change the song. Another way I can change this is to
have someone else change the music for me if I am not in the car by
myself.

Educate
drivers now for a safer future for ourselves and others.