Name: [email protected]
From: Delray Beach, FL
Votes: 3
Driving Safe is the Trick, Getting Home is the Treat
Riley Berry
Driving Safe is the Trick, Getting Home is the Treat
To obtain a license in the state of Florida, new drivers are required to take a permit course and test once they turn 15, practice safe and supervised driving for a year from the day they received their permit, and then they are eligible to take the physical driving test to obtain their license. Only passing that if your score is high enough. Hearing that, you would think “oh that’s plenty to ensure people are driving safely on the roads” but somehow, driving is the one of the most common ways to people lose their lives.
During my entire childhood, my father was a UPS driver. He gave me the blueprint of what driving and operating a vehicle safely from the day I asked if I could sit in his lap and drive the car around the neighborhood, every child’s wish! He made understanding where you are, who is around you, what hazards are approaching, and that defensive driving could save your life because someone else’s mistakes could be the reason your family is planning a funeral very prominent in my sister and I’s lives. Understanding the importance of what you are doing on the road, knowing the rules, and understanding the meaning of each light and sign you pass by can be the determining factor in a life-or-death situation. Our world has become so commercialized to the point where technology runs our existence. It is a form of currency, how we receive our directions on the road, shoot, there are even some cars manually driving for you. It is no doubt technology has been of help, but it has also been what causes most accidents as we indulge in endless ways to use it while operating a vehicle. Hearing the hard-core facts and statistics, death tolls, injuries, and financial burdens an accident can cause can be the revelation we all need.
Insurance agencies are beginning to offer ways to reduce insurance by multiple ways. For instance, implanting devices in your car to record and analyze the way you drive for lower rates can instill someone to practice safe driving habits. You can lower your insurance rates while also lowering your chances of causing or being involved in an accident. Attending safe driving courses to heighten your educational awareness while driving, abiding by the speed limit, putting down all technology devices while driving, limiting the passenger in your car at a time so you don’t feel obligated to begin conversation, and listening to your music at a respectable volume to lessen distractions are all factors of steps to reduce death by cars. These can all keep you from being apart of the news for the following day or even saving yourself from jail time if you are involved in an accident and injure someone or God forbid even kill them.
Thankfully, I am of the few drivers who has not been involved in a severe car accident (knock on wood). I do, however, know of and have heard terrifying bone chilling stories of what car accidents can do. Not only do they tear families apart if the injuries result in death, but the trauma and PTSD they can cause can change the everyday schedules of someone who has been involved in one forever. The cell phone is the prime suspect in causing irresponsible driving, which my friends and family are guilty of. We all are, and it goes back to our world acting as if our phones are the oxygen we need to survive. For a world consumed in technology, we do not find the need to shut them off or our them down while driving until something tragic hits home. People tend to think and believe that terrible things happen just not to them, until they do. The untouchable mindset that people have on the road as they race between cars and zip in and out of the lanes is also part of the reason vehicle deaths are so high. Drivers with ego’s are the other prime suspect in the statistics our world has created. It is the sad truth.
Becoming a better and safer driver will always be of importance to me because I refuse to be a statistic. The power of the tongue is real, spreading knowledge and being transparent with the damage car accidents can cause, is the best way to instill the importance of being a safe driver. Share your stories, tell the scary truths, and be part of the movement of safer driving habits and fall into the category of a knowledgeable, receptive, defensive, and aware drivers.
