Driver Safety Is No Joke

All
statistics are from The Florida Department of Highway Safety and
Motor Vehicles.

As of March 18^th, there have been 575 fatalities in
Florida due to motor related accidents in 2020, and that number would
be higher if not for COVID-19 putting people in quarantine. Only
three months in the year, and 575 people have died in Florida alone
due car accidents. That is 575 reason why drivers ed is
important. Better drivers due to drivers ed will reduce the
number of accidents and related deaths.

Good driving practices should not be developed over time but taught
to new drivers right away. I believe the best way to reduce accidents
is to implement mandatory driving classes in public high schools for
students getting their driver’s license. New drivers should be
taught to diligently observe traffic laws and always use their
blinkers. Seriously, blinkers are not a joke. New drivers should be
taught basic car maintenance. I believe if a driver has put time and
effort in the maintenance of their car, they might be more careful
with it on the road. New drivers should be taught how to change and
fill tires and tell when they need to be replaced. If drivers know to
recognize bad tires and change them, the number of accidents due to
tire blowouts will be reduced.

As important as it is to use your blinker, it is even more important
to keep your eyes on the road and not on a phone. This must be
engrained into the minds of anyone operating a vehicle and the
practice strictly adhered to regardless of how experience the driver
is. In Florida alone, there were 52,129 crashes, 3,068 serious
injuries, and 233 fatalities due to distracted driving in 2018. No
text or post is worth a life.

As much as I fight for people to put their phones down while driving,
I have sat in silence with family members who were texting and
driving. It terrified me when we were speeding toward a breaking car
and they would not put the phone down until the last second, and yet
I rarely said anything to them. Please do not do this. Since the
Florida Ban on Texting and Driving went into effect, my family have
finally put down their phones in the car, and I hope that more
people, new drivers and old, do the same regardless of whether or not
their state has a similar law.

In order to be a safer driver myself, I am putting in the effort to
learn better car maintenance to make sure my car is safe to drive. I
will remember that the best thing for everyone’s safety when in the
car with an irresponsible driver is to tell them to stop. Safety is
crucial for both vehicle occupants and pedestrians. If you don’t
see the need to take these precautions for yourself, then do it for
the people around you, and I will do the same.