Scary but Alive

There are many ways to reduce the number of deaths that result from driving. First, drivers can attend a driver’s education course that will teach them the reality of the dangers of driving. Next, the driver’s education course will appeal to their logical side (logos), their emotional side (pathos) and by providing credible sources of information that are worth listening to (ethos). Lastly, having a plan in place before you get into a situation that could be dangerous is key to making good choices with regards to driving.

For many, the process of going through all of the chapters of the driver’s education course, quizzes and preparation required for students to pass their driver’s test, took a painfully long time. However, a lot of the information that was presented was extremely helpful and informative. Not only did this information show the reality of the dangers of driving and distracted driving, but it also provided meaningful statistics that really made the thought of driving feel real. Seeing these charts and graphs before your eyes that demonstrate your odds as a 16-year-old behind the wheel is definitely a scary feeling, but one that could keep young drivers alive.

What I think made drivers education so powerful to me was the use of all three modes of persuasion— logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos are used through the statistics that show that the majority of crashes, fatal or not, are caused by teenagers. This is a very clear message throughout the entirety of the driver’s education course. This information is used to caution new drivers to drive carefully as there is a clear connection and pattern to the age of the driver and the rate of car crashes. Although the statistics being shared are scary, the information needs to be shared through courses like driver’s education to help reduce the number of deaths caused by car crashes, mainly in teenagers.

In my opinion, the most influential parts of the course included pathos and ethos.

Pathos was used to appeal to the emotions in the driver’s education videos when the stories are told by the loved ones of teenage drivers who weren’t as careful as they should have been. It was definitely emotional watching the videos of these teenager’s parents telling their stories and doing their best to prevent crashes like this from happening in the future. This part of the course had and still has a big effect on me just thinking of how that could be me if I’m not careful. Obviously, the parents and friends of the teenager are extremely credible to bring awareness to the issue because they may have been in the car with the distracted young driver, or their lives may have been changed forever by the impact of the accident. They’re also drivers themselves, who know the dangers of the road, which shows the last point of a strong argument, ethos. Driver’s education is extremely powerful in preventing deaths through statistics, personal stories, and people who have been impacted by accidents who share in the informative course.

As of July 2022, 91.54% of the world has some sort of phone.¹ The increasing rise of phone use and honestly, addiction to technology, has been a huge cause of car crashes. It’s estimated that 26% of all car crashes annually involve a cell phone. Clearly, this is a rising problem that won’t stop until someone does something about it. My mom, for example, has been involved in this form of reckless driving and eventually got into a car crash. Luckily it wasn’t fatal, but it easily could have been, which was very scary. Although it was irresponsible, it taught me an extremely important lesson: don’t have your phone within reach while driving. Although having your phone next to you isn’t necessarily dangerous, it can easily become dangerous as soon as a notification goes off. So, I’ve decided it’s much safer to have it out of reach when driving to prevent that possibility entirely and I recommend others to try it as well.

Another extremely dangerous activity is drinking while driving. About 30% of traffic crash fatalities in the US involve drivers under the influence of alcohol while driving.² This is extremely unsafe as those who are drunk are impaired and are not able to safely operate and drive a vehicle. If you are planning on going out to drink or do drugs, I would highly recommend planning ahead and taking a designated driver or riding with a sober friend or using an online service such as Uber. I would recommend these alternative options in contrast to drunk driving, which has a 1 in 3 chance of getting in a car crash.

In conclusion, you can take many steps to prevent driving accident-related deaths, such as reviewing driver’s education material, putting your phone out of reach when driving, and finding designated drivers when planning to go out and drink. When putting these ideas to use, you can ultimately prevent many deaths, including your own by guiding yourself and others to driving safely.