Dangers of the Road

Every time I drive to school, my parents make me turn my live location on so that they can watch me through their phones while I drive. My parents are not distrustful or obnoxiously overprotective. They just want to see that I have reached my destination safely, happy that I am out of harm’s way.

Drivers ed tries to ensure that the road is safe. It is important that everyone behind the wheel gets their drivers ed, because it provides the skills needed for the road. However, some people are dismissive of the dangers of the road. Tired or relaxed driving can lead to some dangerous situations. Inattentiveness, stemming from all distractions, is the main reason for car crashes.

It was inattentiveness that caused my crash in India. A truck’s failure to stop at a traffic jam caused it to slam into my family’s car. If it was going faster, I could have lost my family or my life. It only takes one second of distraction to cause a car accident. Distraction slows reaction time. Although this is a known fact amongst drivers, it is not taken seriously enough.

I often see my friends not taking alert driving seriously. For this reason, there have been a lot of car accidents in the school parking lot. The students in my school do not realize that one mistake made by themselves or the people around them can put lives at risk. I am sure that if my schoolmates took driving and the dangers involved more seriously, the average number of car crashes in the school parking lot will go down dramatically.

Emphasizing the importance of alert and attentive driving could change everyone behind the wheel. If everyone stresses the importance of alertness to new and experienced drivers alike, there will be radically less car accidents and deaths. People need to know that car accidents can happen to anyone, including the people who have been driving for many years.

For example, even though my father is a very experienced driver, he still crashed into a mailbox a couple of days ago. While we were going around a turn, his phone rang. As his attention drifted from the road to the phone, the car swerved off the road. There could have been a million other possibilities where the crash could have ended worse. His inattentiveness could have cost him his own life.

I could tell every person around me about the dangers of the road, and that still would not be nearly enough to ensure their safety. Making the road a safer place requires everyone to be more attentive. If everyone is more careful on the road, including ourselves, accidents on the road will decline.