Wreckless Driving or Reckless Driving

Safe driving is something that is getting less common day by day. Every town has one highway that is just miserable to drive on and shows the results of reckless driving. Here in San Antonio Texas, we have Loop 1604. This is our highway that has been nicknamed by some the death loop. There is always traffic because there are always wrecks. There are always wrecks because there are always reckless drivers. When there is no traffic, it is easy to realize the number of reckless drivers. Vehicles going ninety miles an hour on the left side, cars swerving through traffic to arrive a little sooner, angry drivers tail gating others out of road rage, and people in the driver seat trying to check their latest text behind the wheel. These dangerous habits explain the wrecks and these dangerous habits are everywhere you drive. Reckless driving happens all over the United States and the entire world. Because of this people are losing their lives.

This dangerous driving increases the death toll on the roads hourly. These deaths are not just other statistics, they are people. Every number is a person. Those are parents, children, spouses, siblings, and friends who are losing their lives due to reckless driving. Stopping deaths from reckless driving is important because people are important. We need to save lives by preventing what takes them.

Many people, however, continue to drive recklessly because they do not think they will be the one to get in the wreck. Not every reckless driver gets in an accident. If it were more common, it would be tragic, but it would start to decrease the number of reckless drivers by showing them it is real. Another way to show the dangers and how to stop it is driver education. Driver education teaches how common accidents are, the dangers of them, and how to avoid them. Learning about the consequences from drivers ed has truly helped me become a safer driver. Yes, the videos about people my age losing their lives, losing mobility, or worst of all being responsible for their friend’s death was extremely hard to watch but it showed me that it was serious, and that reckless driving is dangerous. I avoid getting on my phone while driving, giving into the temptation of going ten miles over the speed limit when running late, and getting distracted while talking to my friends in the car. And of course, it has taught me how truly important driving with a seatbelt is.

There are many ways we can reduce the number of deaths due to car accidents, but it boils down to one key thing, driving safely. If every driver drove cautiously and safely there would be no car accidents. It is by definition. One safe driver helps but a reckless one can hit them. All people must stop driving recklessly to stop injuries from driving. It is the solution, but it is hard and has not been done because one needs to truly convince and remind every driver that reckless driving is dangerous. This can be done in many ways. One of the most obvious ones we see is billboards. These reminders try to get people to remember the dangers of reckless driving. This does not work enough, and many people ignore the billboards. How many drivers on their phone look up at the billboard that says not to text and drive? PSAs typically work better because they go into the number of deaths on the road to show the dangers. However, I believe the best way is in drivers ed. As I mentioned earlier that is where I truly realized the dangers. I do admit watching some of the videos about it did make me a little scared of driving but that has helped make me a cautious driver. We need to present it in serious cases and show it happens to many people, not just the dramatic recreation of one teenager’s accident. If we get drivers to take it seriously, we will see change.

I have not personally been in a car accident but multiple of my friends and family members have lost friends because of reckless driving. One of my mom’s friends got in a serios wreck from reckless driving. She was driving extremely late at night and was falling asleep. She veered off the road and hit a boulder but luckily her car did not fall into the river. Seeing pictures of her she did not look recognizable from the injuries and the blood on her face. My mom said you could see her skull in one part. By the grace of God, she was okay and was able to survive and her daughter who was one still has her mom. Taking the proper safety precautions did help and if not save my mom’s life in driving though. She was going down a country road on her motorcycle and slowed down because there was gravel on the road. She merged to the pavement and grass on the side of the road so she would not slip on the loose gravel and lose control. She could not see a culvert hidden in the grass and hit it flipping her motorcycle. She had broken bones and internal bleeding and thankfully there was a car that was in the distance that had a couple who both were in the medical field who stopped to help her and call for paramedics. Since she did have a helmet and all the proper covering it was not worse. She could have died from impact if she did not have a helmet or lost blood from sliding on the pavement. She had no external injuries. Because of her covering, even though she did have a broken pelvis, shattered collarbone, and was bleeding internally she did not have a single scratch on her. Because of her steps of putting on a helmet, gloves, a leather jacket, and even chaffs she is now ok. She avoided driving recklessly and now she can continue to drive.

Avoiding reckless driving and taking the appropriate safety precautions saves lives. This, however, happens person by person. I personally can do many things to help. The first and foremost is I myself drive carefully. I pay attention to the vehicles around me and give it my attention. I listen to music or talk to people to keep my mind from wandering and I focus on the task of driving. Something else I can do is help others. I remind my friends to get off their phones if I am riding with them or remind them of the speed limit. If another car is swerving or the driver is not paying attention, I let my friend know so they can avoid it. Sometimes I am a backseat driver, so I do not go out the front seat window in an accident. I do also make sure myself and my other friends in the vehicle, if there are any, are not a distraction. One of the highest groups at risk of accident is many teenagers in a car because they become a distraction. I would however rather be the buzz kill that tells my friends to calm down and remind the driver to focus than to have to go to all of their funerals in a span of a week. I care for my friends and family so not only do I drive safely but I remind them too as well.

In the end stopping reckless driving is up to you. It is your choice to drive safely or not. Your choice if you want to tell others or not. It is each individual’s choice to drive responsibly and that will change the roads, towns, and cities. Once we eliminate reckless driving, we can truly reach our goal of wreckless driving.