Driving: Safety Starts With You

Jacob Dryer

21 June
2019

Driving: Safety Starts With You

Teenagers look
forward to learning how to drive but often neglect to consider the
responsibility and attention needed to safely operate a motor
vehicle. Drivers ed is an important part of reducing vehicle
fatalities because it teaches safety, defensive driving, and the law
as well as provides one on one training behind the wheel with a
seasoned driver. My behind the wheel experience provided me with
invaluable tips and lessons that I will never forget and taught me to
be a defensive driver within the safety net of an instructor. My
instructor taught me that I am responsible for my vehicle and every
one whom it affects.

Despite the many
programs in place to instruct drivers and enforce the law, motor
vehicles are a leading cause of death. The main problem is that
people become complacent and fail to pay attention while driving.
This is especially true for young adults, who often drive recklessly,
speed, text, and run red lights to impress friends. Some people also
drive while intoxicated, a mistake that results in many deaths. One
thing to reduce deaths is to improve drivers ed and better
vette instructors. My classroom instructor spent a large portion of
the time talking to us about baseball, his childhood, and the latest
Oprah episode. The actual time he spent on driving involved VHS tapes
from thirty years ago. His class became a joke, and people like him
should not be instructing young people. Drivers ed should
be based on the quality of instruction, not the quantity of time
spent in the classroom and the car. It should be modernized in order
to hold the attention of prospective drivers and remind them that
driving is a privilege, not a right. Furthermore, there should be
increased enforcement. Police should set up more checkpoints to check
licenses and catch drunk drivers. Speeding and texting while driving,
along with other forms of reckless driving, should also have
increased penalties.

It infuriates me how
my friends do not take driving seriously. They flaunt their speeding
and try and top each other’s speeds, proud of how they run stop
lights and signs. They need to wake up and realize their
responsibility. My eye-opening experience occurred in my front yard.
A woman was driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, went
left of center, and hit a pickup truck head-on. The collision killed
her husband and toddler, while her infant nearly escaped death. The
sobering experience of seeing body bags in my ditch made me resolve
to be an example of safe driving to my peers.

I can be a safer driver by keeping my phone off while driving,
driving the speed limit, and take active measures to not be
distracted. When I drive, I require that passengers buckle up and
leave me alone. I refuse to praise people for speeding, and instead,
call them out for breaking the law. I hope that people will respond
and wake up to the dangers of irresponsible driving.