Safe Driving/2022 Drivers Ed Scholarship Essay

To reduce the harmful habit of texting and driving among teens we first have to define what texting and driving is. This may seem simple at first but teens hold many different ideas as to what they consider to be texting and driving. Some teens see texting and driving as only texting and thus they think it’s alright to scroll through social media while driving. This is not okay and to prevent this parents and figures of authority need to hammer home that not texting and driving also means not using social media or any other phone applications that might cause distractions. We also have to drill into teens the horrific consequences that will occur from texting and driving no matter how annoyed they get. Parents can also share effective methods with their teens on how to prevent texting and driving. Teens can keep their phones off and/or on silent mode. They can put their phones out of reach in the backseat or the glove compartment, making it less likely that they would go out of the way to get their phone. Teens can share phone commitment plans in which they pledge not to use their phones while driving. They can be reminded of these pledges by friends and family who can keep them on track and who can hold them accountable. Teens can practice commentary driving, a technique in which drivers verbally point out everything they see, to keep their focus on the road and off of their phones. Parents and figures of authorities have to also set the correct example by not texting and driving themselves. Teens, and really anyone growing up, learn from those older than them and will follow an older person’s example without really thinking about how negative that example might be. If they are shown the right example they will form and grow healthy and safe habits. Parents can go even one step further by completely enforcing safe driving habits on their teens by downloading car safety apps on their phones. These apps come in all shapes and sizes and can do wonders to keep a teen off their phone while driving but they do come with the downside of causing massive issues of trust between teens and their parents. These trust issues may even lead to teens willingly going against safe driving habits, such as willingly texting and driving, just to spite their perceived mistrustful parents, making the safe driving apps worthless. One way parents can remedy this issue is by using smart safe driving apps which only activate when a teen is driving and by being completely honest with their teens and their intentions for downloading the apps. This would build trust and respect between parents and teens, causing the teens to happily not text and drive. Teens have to self-reflect on their driving habits and make an effort not to text and drive. Some teens might not even realize they are doing it but they are and they need to willfully choose to stop, otherwise, the habit will only grow worse. This is the most important part when teaching teens safe driving. They are the only ones that can change themselves for the better.

To reduce deaths related to driving, other than the methods listed above relating to texting and driving among teens, we should first seek to push out as much information as we can about the methods people can use to ensure safe driving. At the same time, we should root out misinformation and expose lies presented as facts or statistics. If people are given truthful but digestible information they will be able to immediately make a positive change to their driving habits, helping everyone on the road. Most people listen to figures of authority and if those figures give them quality safe driving information the roads would become noticeably safer. Information is the most valuable resource in the 21st century and can be used for great good if organized in the proper ways.

I have personally never been in a car accident thankfully but I have witnessed some of my friends and family indulge in bad driving practices. They were texting and driving or were just not paying that much attention to the road. These were not outright dangerous acts such as speeding or drinking while driving but these actions still risked the high possibility of a car accident occurring. I went out of my way to point out these bad driving habits to my friends and family, making sure to be understanding yet also firm so as to drive my message home. After I explained the statistics and horrible things that can come out of distracted driving my friends and family stopped practicing such bad habits. I am proud to say that I have never witnessed them being harmful drivers ever since then.