Drive safe, not selfish.

Emma
Cryer

All
drivers know the dangers associated with driving. We see anti-texting
billboards polka-dotted along the sides of highways. Advisories
informing the driving public about the dangers of being behind the
wheel intoxicated are everywhere. Despite this, roughly 50 million
people are injured or disabled by car accidents in the U.S. with an
additional hundreds of thousands of deaths each year taking place.
There are lives being stolen every day because someone made the
decision to drive irresponsibly. It is essential that we educate
ourselves and those around us on driving safely.

The
importance of drivers ed regarding reducing the number of
driving-related deaths lies within awareness. Many people are
misinformed when it comes to statistics surrounding the dangers of
driving. Individuals are more likely to drive in a safer manner if
they know what their personal risk of injury or death is because they
want to avoid inducing death or injury on themselves and those in the
car with them. In the same way that people are social distancing to
avoid contracting COIVD-19 because they understand the risk
associated with the virus, people who understand the risk they
undertake when they drive irresponsibly will be more likely to drive
with safety in the forefront of their minds.

Creating
and enforcing laws related to phone usage while driving as well as
intoxicated driving are a good place to start when looking at steps
to take to reduce the number of deaths related to driving. Due to the
fact that distracted and intoxicated driving are the leading causes
of car accidents, steps towards regulation will likely reduce the
number of lives lost from automobile accidents. One way to instill
heavier enforcement of these prevention methods is to make laws
stricter. If the fines for driving distracted or intoxicated are
higher, people will be less likely to commit these crimes because
they don’t want to pay fines. Taking advantage of the unfortunate
self-centeredness of multiple will save numerous lives.

Earlier
this semester, I was driving home from my university to help my
parents with something. I was practicing safe driving as I always do,
but was almost caught in an extremely unfortunate accident because
another driver was being irresponsible and not paying attention.
About halfway through my drive, I saw the car behind me swerving
slightly and felt uncomfortable to the point that I sped up and got
in front of them. I then looked in my rearview mirror and saw that
car hit another car, causing it to spin out. The damage was gruesome.
I was extremely lucky to have made my way out of harm because I was
paying attention, but not everyone will be so lucky.

In
order to be a safe driver and keep others safe, it is important to be
sober and attentive. The number of lives claimed each day by
automobile incidents that are often avoidable is heartbreaking, which
is why it is so essential that we all educate ourselves and drive
responsibly.