How you can save lives everyday

Driving education In the US, one of the many exciting things about growing up is turning 16. 16 means that you gain the freedom of being on the road and gain independence as well. However before obtaining a license, drivers education and classes must be had. Driver’s education ensures knowledge of traffic signals, stop signs, speed limits, right/ left turns and paying 100% attention with no distractions causes good road habits and ensures that lives can be saved and prevent fatal car accidents.

70% of all teenagers admit to drinking alcohol. One in 10 teens in high school drinks and drives. Teens are 17 times more likely to die in a crash when they have a blood-alcohol level of .08 and every 15 minutes a teenager will tragically die due to drunk driving. As a graduated college student and a proud alum of James Madison’s SafeRides, I believe that even just one death is far too high over this preventable issue. I believe that this issue continues to occur due to a feeling of invincibility, where “it’s only a couple of drinks” is not taken seriously and a sense of false pride comes in due to lack of inhibition. There is an inability to judge physical limitations/ impairments, loss of critical thinking, and there might even be an embarrassment over not drinking or DD’ing and wanting to fit in. A personal experience I had was in high school there was a program where high school students pretended to “die and walk as zombies” for the day, where the whole school then had an assembly and a speaker that stressed the importance of not drinking and driving. This program gave me a perspective of such a serious action and consequence and made many of my peers realize how easy it is to not drink or drive and protect others.

There is also the issue of texting and driving, which causes 400 fatal crashes each year. In order to combat this, I would continue to suggest that police remain vigilant in giving tickets to distracted drivers, have high school students make a pledge to never text and drive and to emphasize keeping your phone in a glove compartment, put on “do not disturb”, and to ensure that the driver in your car is not texting or driving.

I have personally been in a scary accident. I was driving back to my undergraduate campus (about 4 hours away) from my hometown and it happened to unexpectedly rain down while I was on a bridge. I decided to switch lanes to be in the furthest right lane (closet to the wall median). About 10 minutes into the downpour, I saw out of the corner in my eye, a semi truck fly over the median and drive into the rock median. I am very thankful the rock median was there because if it wasn’t, I truly think I would not be here today as there was nothing else to protect me from the semi truck. While I was not hurt physically, my car was destroyed and deemed undrivable. Mentally however I had driving anxiety for the following months and was scared to drive over the bridge for a long time. When the police report came out, it was found that the driver was distracted by texting. I was very sad to find this out as as accident could’ve been easily preventable and myself and others would not have had to suffer.

In order to combat this issue, there are a few possible solutions. On my university’s campus, we had a nonprofit organization entitled “SafeRides.” This organization is designed to provide a safer community. SafeRides provided a safe and reliable service within the Harrisonburg community by providing free rides to intoxicated students and/or to students who are rendered incapable of transportation due to other circumstances. SafeRides members also worked to prevent drunk driving through our efforts to educate and fundraise to help support our mission. By calling or using our app, we gave a total of 113,963 rides (which means we potentially saved 113,963 lives)! This organization can be found on other college campuses, but I think it should be on every college campus, where every student is aware that this is a judgment free zone and that lives could be saved. Another solution is to push and advocate on campuses during orientation week or pep rallies for not ever getting into a car with someone that has been drinking, enforcing a DD, and having a rideshare app. If there is a person on the ride that may show signs of drinking, call the police to ensure you and their safety. There is also the easy task of putting phones on “do not disturb”, do not answer texts or calls when driving, and speak up when the driver texts or calls. The importance of wearing a seatbelt at all times is extremely important as well. Seatbelts have been scientifically proven to save lives and should be the number one priority on the road and when driving. While these may seem like small actions, it could save someone’s life.