Name: Jocelyn Bulcao
From: Modesto , California
Votes: 0
If you have a
license, you most likely had to pass a written knowledge test on the
rules of the road. Most of which are common sense. Drive the speed
limit, use your turn signals, stop at the stop sign. Everyone knows
the law, and there are countless commercials and signs emphasizing
safe driving, but so many break the laws and in result risk lives.
Educated driving is different from safe driving, we need to utilize
that knowledge into our actual driving for it to mean anything.
Education and
knowledge of the laws of the road is not enough in itself to reduce
death and injury numbers. Everyone knows driving under the influence
is illegal, yet however, drunk-driving crashes claim more than 10,000
lives per year. Texting while driving, which is also illegal, is 6x
more likely to cause an accident than driving drunk is according to
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Simple, well
known laws are ignored, leading to many fatalities and injuries. It
isn’t enough to be educated on laws, we need to follow them for
them to work.
Some
steps to remember to reduce the number of deaths related to driving
are: 1. Stay Alert. Drivers should actively pay attention to what
they are doing, and what drivers around them are doing. Nothing you
do should distract from your alertness. Texting while driving
distracts your eyes from the road. Alcohol intoxication by any levels
reduces reaction speed making it harder to be aware of your
surroundings. 2. Don’t assume. Don’t make the mistake of assuming
a driver is going to do what you think they are going to do. Even if
its a law, anyone is unpredictable. 3. Buckle Up. Speaking about
unpredictability, accidents can happen anytime. If an accident is to
happen, wearing your seatbelt will reduce injury and can prevent
fatalities. Follow all of the laws. Though this one seems a given,
following the speed limit, coming to complete stops, using turn
signals all help prevent accidents. Each law is set in place for a
reason, driver predictability. If every driver would practice safe
driving by following all of the laws, our roads are bound to become
a safer place.
To
personally become a better driver, I need not only speak on what we
need to do, but act on my word. I myself will follow all street laws,
and make sure my friends and family do so as well. When I am a
passenger in their vehicle and I see them break a law, I will remind
them of why that law is set in place, and that its not only their
life at risk. One small law broken, could change many lives forever.
Don’t just know the laws, follow them as well.
