Drive Safe, Please

On a daily basis I tell my loved ones to drive safe. In a split second you could go from blasting music and driving down the highway, to being lifeless in the car after a horrific car accident. Driver Education is very important, for your safety and the safety of others. It is necessary that students in a Driver’s Education class take it seriously and pay attention. There are many different ways to avoid as many deaths when driving. The top two ways are, do not drive intoxicated, and stay off your electronic devices. It is common sense that driving intoxicated is extremely dangerous, but yet people still do it. Driving under the influence is putting other drivers at risk. I have read many articles and have seen many videos of drunk drivers killing innocent people and drivers. It is unfair to those innocent people to have their life taken away because one person decided to drive recklessly and drunk. Nowadays, almost everyone owns an electronic device that could quite possibly take their eyes off the road. Whether it’s a phone call, text message, or even to check the score of a football game, drivers could look down and not pay attention to their surroundings. More than 34,000 people die each year due to driving, if we were to put away our electronic devices and completely stop drunk driving the number of deaths would drop drastically.

I have seen multiple family members and friends drive irresponsibly, the majority of the time they were on their phones. It hasn’t caused a car accident, but I know it’s just because they’re lucky. A scary almost accident did happen to me, my brother was in the driver’s seat not paying attention and on his phone. He was taking a left hand turn onto the road but he didn’t have the green arrow, a car was heading towards us but he didnt see it. As the car got closer it started blaring their horn, I was screaming at my brother to stop, thankfully the car coming towards us stopped in time so we did not get hit. If we got hit it would’ve been a critical accident. I probably would not be alive right now because I was in the passenger seat. I was put at risk by my brother’s irresponsible driving. A car accident can happen to anyone but not paying attention to the road and your surroundings can easily put you and others in danger. One of my close friends received her license and not even a week after she was on her phone changing songs and ran over a bush in someone else’s yard. From then on, my friend has been a very cautious driver to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. For some people an accident like that can be kind of traumatic for the driver. Right after this accident she was hesitant to go back on the road in fear something similar would happen. I believe we all need that kind of fear when driving. All drivers should be alert and careful when driving. The fear of something happening to you when driving will allow you to be cautious.

To become a safer driver and to help other people become safer drivers there are a couple of things I can do that everyone else should do as well. One of my ideas is simple but powerful. When someone is driving but also looking at their electronics simply tell them to put it down and focus on the road. Being a passenger when someone is irresponsible driving is very frightening. I personally hate when other people drive me around due to the idea that there could be times where they aren’t paying attention to the road or even that they spaced out and aren’t thinking straight. Tell the driver that whatever they are doing can wait until they reach their destination. Another idea is, lock your electronic devices in your glovebox. If it’s out of sight there’s no way you can be distracted by it. My last idea is, text your friends or loved ones that you are driving and that they shouldnt contact you until you get to your destination, this will stop drivers from looking at their phones thinking that they got texts and notifications. There are definitely more ways to become better and safer drivers but those are just a few key ones. We all need to take more responsibility when it comes to driving, 34,000 people each year could still be living if it wasn’t for irresponsible and reckless drivers. Do your part and stay away from anything that could possibly be distracting to you when driving. Car accidents are common, but they can be less common if we stay safe and alert. So, drive safe please.