The Importance of Safe Driving

Safe driving is an ongoing issue in the state of Florida as well as the United States as a whole. In the year 2020, there were 3,484 deaths related to motor vehicles in the state of Florida, 110 of those accidents took place in Lee County alone (my area of residence).

While my personal experience of being in a car accident did not take place in the year 2020, it did take place a couple of years prior in the same county. My mother (the driver), my friend, and I were driving home from an outing that was cut short by a rainstorm when we were hit from behind. We had slowed down to allow the car in front of us to turn into a parking lot when the pickup truck carrying a half-full water tank rear-ended our car causing us to jump a curb and hit the car in front of us. Luckily for all involved, there were no major injuries, but our car was totaled in the incident. The driver behind us had been distracted by their phone making it so they did not have time to slow down, this in combination with slick roads due to the aforementioned rain is what caused the accident. While this incident was not fatal, it could have been prevented if the driver who hit us had been following the law and was practicing safe driving.

In places such as Florida, where bad weather can appear seemingly out of nowhere driver education is particularly important. This is not to say that driver education is not important throughout the United States, but rather to address a specific example of how following laws and knowing proper procedures in instances of bad weather is of great importance. New drivers especially should be taught how to manage roads in all terrains, from snow to rain and everything in between. While many of these things will be passed on from teacher to student, I believe that there should be a standardized version provided to all new drivers. While this is covered in the permit test, I believe it should also be addressed in the driving portions of a liscense test to ensure that all drivers, regardless of age and experience, are aware of the proper procedure in all circumstances.

Another issue that I see to be a key factor in the number of deaths caused by motor vehicles is the use of cell phones or other distracting devices. While there are laws stating that devices such as cell phones are not permitted when operating a motor vehicle, that alone does not seem to fully deter drivers from using such devices. That being said, it is on the drivers to take the steps needed to ensure that there will be no distractions created from such cellular devices. This could be done by having drivers silence phones or connect them to their vehicles (if the technology is available) through things like CarPlay to ensure that the user has the ability to use some applications available on their divices when the vehicle is fully stopped. Even so it is still on the driver to fully enforce these laws, making it hard to regulate or put a stop to completely.

While I can still be considered a rather new driver with only two years of experience under my belt, I still do my best to encourage those around me to be safe drivers as well as enforcing laws and safety precautions myself. Being that myself, and many of the people I am around are teens, the most beneficial thing I feel I can do is keep myself and others off of cell phones while behind the wheel. This could mean anything from offering to respond to a message or change the music when someone else is driving or simply silencing my ringer or setting a playlist on shuffle on my own phone. Similarly, if at any time I feel uncomfortable being on the road, whether it be a rainstorm or high winds, I find a place to stop the car until whether conditions get better. Especially in an older car, such as the ones, myself andfirst time drivers have, it is important to know what the car can handle, if strong winds or slick roads are not included in those things then I, or whomever I am with will pull off into a parking lot or some other safe place to stay until conditions get better. Overall, I do my best to take the safes course of action for myself and other drivers around me. Whether that be pulling off the road when whether conditions are not in my favor, ensuring that phones are not a distraction, or any other circumstance that can further avoid dangerous driving.