Name: Hannah Wareham
From: Kansas City, Missouri
Votes: 0
The
Importance of Safe Driving for Teens
I believe it is
safe to say that we have all been with a friend that is a poor, not
so good driver, or we’ve experienced a bad driver for ourselves.
Teenagers are given the responsibility to drive huge, deadly
vehicles, most at the young age of 16. For all teenagers our brains
have not developed yet, and they won’t for several more years. Yet
we are given the responsibility to drive strong, powerful and fatal
machines. Now don’t get me wrong I am very grateful that I have the
privilege to transport myself whenever I need it. However, there are
many teens that I believe are not mature enough to be controlling
such powerful machines. I believe that enforcing new precautions,
educating young teens and taking safer steps can prevent more deaths
and increase safety on the roads.
One way that we can
do this is educating young drivers about the dangers of driving, to
reduce the risk of deaths. Starting at a young age we are taught
about the dangers of driving while texting, while drunk, while high,
while eating, while being distracted, while with friends. However, we
have not been taught how to be safe drivers, besides not being under
the influence or getting distracted. If we start educating teens in
school about driving, we will give them a head start in knowing the
importance of driving safely.
There are also many
steps we can take to reduce the number of deaths related to driving.
One idea could be, using breathalyzers in cars as an ignition. This
could be a helpful tool for those who struggle with driving under the
influence or have a past with DUIs. Another common reason of wrecks
is careless driving, this could be solved by a few different
modifications to a vehicle. For example, a car will not turn if the
blinker has not been turned on. This is similar to many modifications
being made to cars now. There has recently been addition to cars
where if they sense a car or object in the way, the alert you with a
beep or the stop the car. Hopefully within the next few years
companies will push for safer vehicles and altercations to improve
the safety of driving.
I have experienced
a car wreck and I have experienced friends and even myself driving
irresponsibly. I have only ever been in one car crash, and I will
never forget the sound of the cars colliding and the sounds of my
mom, sister and I screaming as we slid across the street from the
impact. Fortunately, no one was injured or hurt in the crash. I will
also always remember the feeling of sickness that overwhelmed me in
the aftermath of the crash. Then, the night of pure restlessness as
the days events constantly replayed in my head. I’ve also have had
plenty of experience where my friends have been poor drivers. Whether
they were on their phone, changing the music or almost hitting
something or getting hit or maybe just a horrible driver. I myself
have occasionally been a bad driver, accidently hitting a curb,
backing into a car (no damage, of course I’m not that bad of a
driver), to swerving a bit as I distract myself with the music
playing in my car. If we admit it or not, we have all been a
situation where we or someone else have been careless behind the
wheel.
To take steps in becoming a better I driver I could eliminate
distractions. Such as keeping my phone away from me while I drive,
this cannot only keep me safer but as well as the others on the road.
While riding with friends I can remind them to be smarter while
driving and eliminate distractions. By educating, developing new
precautions, and making safer decisions as an individual, we can
reduce the amount of deaths related to driving.
