Teenagers Behind the Wheel free essay sample

Nicholas Novaky drove his Durango into a tree on Wolfe Road in Budd Lake, New Jersey. It was 8:49 that Tuesday night when his mother got the call there had been an accident. Neil Solankys parents also got notified as being the passenger of the car wreck. The families of the two friends now mourn together in remembrance of the former high school students. These guys will never be able to do what they worked their entire lives for; Walk across the stage with their graduating class of Mount Olive High School that was scheduled just two days after the incident. Eventually, everyone will cross paths with a dangerous driver in their lifetime, whether that person is talking on their cell, eating or putting on their makeup. You could be completely innocent in the whole situation. Nick, on the other hand, was not innocent. Sometimes it is very necessary to take a phone call while driving. The judgment is yours and Nicks poor judgment caused him his life along with his best friend. Wolfe Road is a long, narrow street that curves sharply. We assume that Nick did not recognize this so his ignorance to his surroundings resulted in him being another negative statistic for teenage drivers. Like Nick, many of todays people are distracted while driving. However, the most dangerous driving habits are possessed by teenagers. Most young drivers are not fully equipped with the knowledge to be safe drivers. Its so easy to obtain your permit and license without really knowing about how to operate a motorized vehicle securely. Also, the resources available go unrecognized. There are many classes, tutorials and improvement training and schools that one can take. Learning to drive is sometimes seen as a right amongst youth, but with driving, comes risk. With car crashes being the leading cause of death for teens in the U. S, CDC Injury Centers number one goal is to help stop wrecks and related deaths and injuries caused by minors. According to a recent study by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SAAD), young drivers are influenced the most by their parents. As a fifteen year old, youre sitting in the passenger seat. Assuming you are like many other adolescents, you critique your mom and dad more than anyone else. Imagine you are riding shotgun and your mother is behind the wheel. Now, anxious as ever, you only have three short months left in the quest to finally being able to hold your license in your hand. As you sit there, you study and observe every time she doesnt use her turn signal, every red light she runs and when your Aunt calls, she immediately reaches into her purse to retrieve her cell phone. Now as the mother, you dont think your child notices the one time you read a text while at a stoplight or you adjusting your ponytail while speeding down the highway. In reality, that fifteen year old of yours is taking in every decision you make while behind the wheel; So when you decide to pick up that cell that one time, in your kids head, it legitimizes that action for the future driver next to you. Teenagers are less experienced and therefore make them more likely to wreck while participating in activities that can take some of their attention off of the road such as digging in your purse, talking or texting. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety states that kids 16 years of age have higher crash rates than any other age group. In 2010, the latest year in which data is available, motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of death for people who were 13-19 males and females in the United States. Fifty nine percent of teenage passenger deaths occurred in vehicles driven by another teenager. Among deaths of passengers of all ages, seventeen percent happened when a student under the age of 20 were driving. Today, it is not uncommon for a teenager to underage drink and then get behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated. This can also render our way of thinking, allowing us to feel more as if our actions are under control. This is how my sister, Kaylynn, felt that cold morning of March 22 when she got into her first car accident. Feeling sorry that she had been in the house all week, my mother decided to allow her to take her car and have a fun night. Little did she know that Kaylynn would be participating in the consumption of alcoholic beverages, therefore she was not able to say her farewells to the car she purchased only three days prior to this night. Everything seemed normal when my sister got dressed and set out for the evening. I awakened to find a text sent from my mom at 4:10 that morning saying, â€Å"Kaylynn totaled my car and she is in jail for drinking and driving. Call me as soon as you get up please. † Immediately I get up and throw on the first set of clothes I could find and head over to the house. My mom had been crying all night and her face was ed and stained with mascara from where her tears washed them from her lashes; her nose so raw from blowing that it looked like it would burn when touched by a Kleenex. I got the news that Kaylynn was OK but the car did not make it. Mom went to get her out of jail hesitantly. She felt as if she deserved to be there because, despite her knowledge of unsafe driving, she got behind the wheel anyway. In conclusion, safe driving habits is something that a lot of teenage drivers seem to lack there of. They simply have less years of experience and education than the majority of their elders. Unsafe driving is something that evolves every year, however it can be improved. States like Kentucky, Virginia and California all require that before you receive your license, you must take a drivers education and training class. This law in Kentucky just came about only a few years ago and it has already made a difference in the knowledge kids have before entering the drivers seat of a car. There should be more requirements to being able to maintain your license throughout the years, therefore you are always equipped with what you should know about safe driving habits. Texting, eating and fixing your hair are all just conveniences while driving. It is understandable that sometimes, under different circumstances, it is necessary to resort to these measures. Whether you are late on your way to work that calls for you to take your breakfast with you or there is an emergency at home and your mom or dad needed to let you know via text. It is your choice to determine what is more important; the conveniences of unsafe driving or the inconvenience of losing your life and possibly taking someone else as well.