Life is Full of Choices, so Make Yours

Life is Full of Choices, so Make Yours

Drivers ed is a way to teach people, specifically teens, how to drive safely and what to do and not do when on the road. With it, it tells you that safe driving is a priority for not only you, but everyone else you share the road with. Safe driving is wearing your seatbelt, not drinking and driving, checking your mirrors before you start driving, no cellphones on the road, keeping conversations to a minimum especially if they are going to lead to an argument that could divert your attention off of the road. But one of the biggest things that I have personally felt, and seen work is the videos of the people who get in fatal accidents and how it affects them and their loved ones. It is so sad to see those people, many young, have the life they have lived and loved, ripped away from them because of one very stupid mistake. Yet nothing is like when it happens to someone you know. I know a kid, whose mother died a few years ago due to someone distracted by their phone. Though I do not know a lot of what happened officially, I know how it affected her son, my friend. He was beaten down, running the last conversation he had with her over and over in his head, wishing he had changed some of his talks with her, pleading she knew how much he loved her. He had to learn how to live a new life because he no longer had his mother with him. I have seen people I know driving with their phones in their hands, and remind them how dangerous that is, and how would their family react if they got in an accident because Instagram was more important than keeping their eyes on the road. This is not to say I have not been in the car and not done some stupid stuff. I have picked up the phone while driving to answer a call, read a message I received, left my seatbelt off when someone was driving. But now I really know I should not do it as I have seen more deaths, heard the traumas and experienced the pain of death from accidents. Now, before I start driving I always make sure my phone is connected to Bluetooth, my music is started, directions are put on if need be, and I make sure everything is working correctly so I don’t have a problem while on the road. I try to make sure everyone is buckled before I start driving, though I do forget that sometimes. But my biggest one that I have not had to put in affect yet is my Designated Driver Policy. Always make sure to have one, and always keep your eye on them, and if they start drinking, even if it is just a sip, you immediately stop drinking and take the keys from them. If the responsible one won’t be responsible, its better to take it in your own hands, and if you know you won’t be sober in time, you call a cab or someone who can come get you and your group. Yet there is always more we can do and coming up with new preventive ideas is the first step. With my phone, if I am driving it sets up a lock that all I have to do is click a button to turn off. I think it would be better if you had to put your passcode in to unlock your phone while moving over a certain mph. Not only that, but get more adds out there on social media that younger people are on. I constantly see adds on Tik Tok, Instagram, Snapchat that showcase the harm smoking and vaping can do to them. Yes, there are adds but not at the magnitude in which they should be. In the end, we may never stop distracted driving as it is in human nature to have temptations, but if we can get even one person to come to their senses it is one more life possibly saved. In the end, it is your own choice to practice undistracted driving, and taking the blame if necessary.