Make Driving Safer

Each year, there are over 34,000 deaths in the United States as a result of driver accidents. Driving is extremely dangerous and new drivers typically don’t understand that. Many teens aren’t exposed to the consequences of driving while intoxicated or driving while distracted and this is where the problem begins. We can make safer drivers by explaining to teens what happens if they get into an accident, we have to be role models to them by not driving while distracted. There are many videos and documentaries on what happened to the lives of teenagers who made the mistake of driving while intoxicated or distracted by a text.

Drivers ed should teach teenagers the consequences of getting into accidents. In health class, we were shown videos and documentaries about the aftermath of driving intoxicated. It was heartbreaking to see that these young people had their lives taken away at such a young age – our age – all because they were intoxicated or they looked at their phone for a split second. Even if they didn’t die in that accident and injured the other person, or killed the other person, the guilt they had to deal with every day was enough to understand the impact. Even if they weren’t dead, they might’ve been injured to the point where they won’t be able to take care of themselves any longer.

I don’t think every school shows the consequences of unsafe driving. We’ve had parents come in and talk about their dead sons and daughters, some of them weren’t even driving, but most of them were intoxicated and they tried to do the right thing, but they died. The steps we can take to make drivers’ safer is to make teenagers watch these videos in class, see people their own age unable to sit up properly, or eat for themselves or do the things they usually could by themselves because of their mistake.

I have seen my dad drive irresponsibly many times, but I’ve also watched my mother fall asleep at the wheel and get us into accidents. Being in those accidents with my mother because she couldn’t even open her eyes made me fear driving. I take extra steps to make sure I’m safe while driving. There’s no way I could ever text and drive or be intoxicated and drive. To make things clear, I do not have my license yet. I went through the written part of the drivers ed class, but I haven’t gone through the driving part yet. I’ve driven a few times in parking lots and it makes me nervous at the thought of driving distracted or intoxicated.