Distracted Driving

Driver
Education Initiative Award

Twice
this year, my mother has been hit by a driver who had their eyes on
their phone instead of the road. Thankfully she was okay after both
these accidents. The medicine prescribed by the doctors has been a
big help in getting her back to her normal self. Some side effects
she had from these accidents have been constant headaches,
excruciating back pain, and visuals of a nonexistent white light in
her right eye. All of these symptoms could’ve been easily avoided
if these drivers chose to keep their eyes on the road instead of
their phones.

I’ve
always been safe and cautious while driving but due to these
accidents, I have been paying extra attention while driving. I
believe it’s important to be a defensive driver and watch yourself,
the road, and others while driving. Drivers ed to reduce the
number of deaths from distracted driving is extremely important, most
young drivers (and experienced drivers) don’t truly understand the
power they have while driving. A lot of people get overconfident in
their abilities while driving and believe, “I can text and drive
I’ll be fine.”, although you may be fine, what about the
80-year-old women in the Honda Civic in front of you? Will she be
fine? The average weight of a vehicle is 2,781 pounds, and if you
aren’t paying attention someone can get injured or worse die. While
driving it’s important to be focused on the road and the road only.
Texting and driving is the leading cause of car accidents across
America.

Getting
people to stop texting and driving is the hardest part of this all.
Police officers obviously can’t patrol every driver individually at
all times, so we all need to make personal commitments in life to
stop this behavior. We all need to be in this together to stop this
problem. Reporting these distracted drivers to the authorities is
extremely important. Just because you weren’t hit by them, doesn’t
mean someone else couldn’t be affected by their driving.

For
my contribution to safe driving, I created a video with my friend to
promote safe driving practices and to show the severity of texting
while driving. I also made a personal commitment in my own life to
not text or drive and also stop any of my friends from driving while
texting. It’s important that people stop distracted driving because
it can put everyone at risk. While driving you don’t only put your
life at risk but everyone else on the road. So please, make a
personal commitment for the sake of yourself and others to not text
while driving on the road.