Name: Alyssa Hellebuyck
From: Rockford, MI
Votes: 0
In
the Driver’s Seat
The
first time I drove a car, I was twelve years old. It was my father’s
big red truck, so I was very intimidated. Being the short
twelve-year-old girl I was, I had to scoot the seat up almost until
it couldn’t move any farther. The dirt road in my neighborhood had
so many rocks embedded into it, the whole truck would shake. I
remember driving so slowly that my sister yelled from the backseat,
“Go faster, already!” I was very scared of what could happen if I
made one wrong move or took my eyes off the bumpy road for two
seconds, and I had every right to be.
Luckily,
I’ve never been in a car accident with another vehicle. However,
Michigan winters can be harsh. During the 2018-2019 polar vortex, I
was coming home from my night shift. Turning left to come up to a
light, my wheels couldn’t gain enough friction to turn my car. I
crashed the front bumper into a snowbank. I backed my car out and
straightened it. For a moment, my car started to slide backwards down
the hill I was on, even while parked. I braked and came to a stop.
When it was safe, I got out of my car to see that my right bumper was
hanging from the rest of the car. I called my dad to come to the
rescue. That car accident was very stressful for me. The crash
could’ve gone much worse, yet it didn’t.
Driver’s
education is crucial for everyone to be safe on the roads and reduce
deaths from crashes. It informs you of threats to your safety you
never thought about, and how to prevent them. Drivers ed is
important in reducing crashes because it teaches you everything you
need to know about dangers on the roads. You pass the course if you
are proficient at driving. That is how it should be.
There
are multiple ways we can all ensure that we drive safely. The biggest
one is to eliminate distractions. If your phone is a problem, turn it
off or throw it in the back seat where it cannot be reached. Keep
your music at a low volume in order to hear sirens, honking, and
anything else that might keep you safe. To drive you need to be
focused and in the present. Don’t let a text end up being your
biggest regret.
In
order to become a safer driver, I can take many steps. I should
follow my own advice and keep the music down. Another thing I can do
is enable “Do Not Disturb” on my phone so I cannot see any texts
sent to me. I’ll be more aware of my surroundings in case someone
else endangers me on the road, and I will make sure I am not
distracted in any way. The roads need to be safer, and drivers need
to be more aware of the plausible outcomes of distracted driving.
