The Days Reality Hit—And Crashed

Brakes
screech. Silence seems to overcome the yells and cries and honks and
screams. Dozens of frightened eyes blink rapidly, bewildered at the
scene before them. One pair of oblivious eyes pause a moment before
reality hits. And crashes.

The
progression into the age of modern technology certainly offers a
breathtaking new world of blinking traffic signals, increasingly more
efficient vehicles, and a vast majority of novel gadgets and cellular
devices. Such a world seems oftentimes so easy to maneuver as one
becomes lost in the excitement and glamour of the newness of
everything—yet so difficult indeed with the onset of foreboding
precautions. Upon the coming of age into the magical sweet-sixteen,
a spell-bound young teen soon finds themselves set free into the
world. Oblivious to the dangers surrounding them, they soon disregard
the guidelines and laws provided for their safety: transporting an
inappropriate number of passengers, finding themselves distracted by
friends on the road, and even perhaps looking downward at their new
technology, completely oblivious of the world—and road—around
them. While they find many fortunate passes for their carelessness,
this certainly proves to be an issue, and leads to a constant toll of
death and injury. Although the upcoming generation of young adults
find some warnings and pleadings to avoid such careless behaviour,
these warnings are few and far between. As such, it is absolutely
essential for the education of upcoming and current drivers.

Personally,
there have been several occasions where I found myself in precarious
scenarios, wherein either another driver seemed out of sorts, or the
icy-stillness of the road drifted my car out of place. In all such
occurrences, I have been incredibly grateful for my training on road
awareness and its impact on my personal safety. In such times, I know
it is beneficial to remain calm yet incredibly aware of surroundings.
My personal goal is to increase my driving safety by retaining my
attention on the road, despite other distractions that may present
themselves, limiting the number of people I take, and even by placing
my phone out of reach and safely away. While driving safety has been
a personal priority, I know that not everyone finds this pressing,
and it is up to each individual to address this concern.

This
onset of new-drivers ed ought to be formatted in such a way to
peak the drivers’ attention, but to also place a heavy responsibility
on them as a keeper of public safety. It could be beneficial to
include, within the limits of a Freshman study hall, a small course
of driver safety, with teachers and law-enforcement officers
recounting the consequences of inappropriate road behaviour. On top
of classes at school, there should be a stronger urge from the
parents and family to protect teens and other road-members. This
could potentially involve neighborhood and public councils of parents
of teenage individuals, who discuss the many solutions individually
for the family on how to broach the subject and increase awareness
within the base family unit.