Name: Freddie Wagner
From: Hanna, WY
Votes: 0
Imagine
this: you’re in your vehicle driving down the interstate when you
come to a fairly open stretch of road, no traffic in sight. The
thought of texting suddenly pops into your head. So, you reach for
your phone and begin texting back your friends. In the blink of an
eye, you lose control of your vehicle, ending in a totaled vehicle
and a lost life.
This
is the cause of death for nearly 390,000 people in the United States.
Statistics show that 1 in 4 car accidents are cell phone related.
390,000 people threw away their life to text a couple words. I wish
just as much as the next person that we could blame reckless driving
on just cell phones, but we can’t. There are many components in the
big scheme of reckless driving. One component is young drivers.
They’re everywhere, including me. Statistics show that nearly 33%
of death in 13-16 year olds occurred in motor vehicle crashes.
Another component of reckless driving is alcohol. Twenty nine people
every day lose their lives in car accidents involving an impaired
driver, which is roughly one death every 50 minutes. Another possible
component is pure inexperience. I live close to interstate 80, and in
the winter there are tons of car and truck pileups. Weather plays a
huge part in driving.
So
what steps can be taken to reduce the amount of accidents and
fatalities in this country related to driving? We need to have
Drivers Ed in every state. I live in a really rural area of the
country where Drivers Ed isn’t offered. There needs to be classes
and hands on opportunities where young drivers can be informed and
have experience on the road. In turn, this should hopefully reduce
the amount of crashes and fatalities in the US.
Personally,
I have been in a car with a drunk driver. Unfortunately, I was
younger and uneducated with impaired driving. Luckily, there wasn’t
a crash, and I got to where I was going safely. I have also been in
the car when the driver was texting, and once again the worst thing
that happened was swerving. I have friends however that have been in
accidents due to inexperience or texting. No one was hurt luckily.
And honestly, the thought of texting while I was driving has crossed
my mind. There needs to be more information and statistics as I
listed earlier. There also needs to be more resources available, as
well as more information and statistics. Bringing in a guest speaker
that has experienced firsthand distracted driving to really drive
home the point would be useful as well. Awareness needs to be raised
on distracted driving because it is a serious problem in our country.
