Pledging to save lives with safe driving

Written by: Becca Waters '11

               “Driving is a privilege not a right.” Parents and educators remind their children and students, yet the privilege is taken advantage of more often then not, and consequently, the end result, all too often, is a motor vehicle accident with the possibility of a death.

                According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), in 2009, 3,466 teens, age 13 to 19 were killed in motor vehicle accidents. That number is actually a decline from recent years. 2002 recorded nearly 6,000 teen deaths that were related to motor vehicle accidents.

                Although the numbers are decreasing the risk teenage drivers run is at an all time high. The root of the risk of danger seems to be the technology that the twenty first century has adopted.

                According to a Nielsen study from 2009, a typical teenager sends about 80 text messages per day assuming that the same amount is received in a day as well.

                A week day for a teen is usually spent at school, attending sporting practices or events, or working. Each of which, for most, would require some form of transportation to their destination. Most teens strive for independence and what better way to receive independence then driving?

                The independence that comes along with having a driver’s license though also carries a long list of responsibilities. One very important responsibility that has been on the minds of law makers and enforcers across the nation is the use of cell phones while operating a motor vehicle.

In 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSA), an estimated 1.6 million teens drive while reading or writing text messages.

                Caught up in the hectic pace of an average day, most people want instant gratification, especially teenagers. Texting grants the instant gratification that teens strive for. “I don’t like to call people if I don’t have to, I can text them without interrupting every part of the moment we both are in,” said Izzy Bellville ‘12.

                Bellville doesn’t have his license but a lot of his friends do and he has found that they have a hard time putting their cell phones down and focusing strictly on the road, whether they have passengers or not. Proving that laws against texting and driving are necessary.

                For a teen in Texas a law banning texting and driving could have been the factor that saved her life. Alex Brown from Lullbock, Texas was killed in a single car rollover accident that was caused by her own texting and driving in November of 2009. The result of her death left her family devastated. Through the devastation though, her parents decided to campaign against texting and driving by putting Brown’s wrecked pick up truck on a trailer and take the truck to high schools around Texas telling their daughters story in hopes of changing teens minds about texting and driving.

                The Brown’s story was made public when the family was on ABC family’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. With the help of ABC a website for “Remember Alex Brown” was created. On the website, www.remeberalexbrownfoundation.com, people can sign a pledge against texting and driving. Carly Darrow ‘12 participated in pledging against texting and driving.

                “My best friend and I both have cell phones and drive. After we watched Extreme Makeover we visited the website for Alex Brown and signed the pledge to not text while we’re driving,” said Darrow.

                Browns parent repeatedly said that they don’t want to see another tragic and unnecessary death like their daughters happen. Parents of teens that drive can only do so much if the state they reside in doesn’t have strict laws against cell phone use while operating a motor vehicle but they can find information about safe driving at: www.KeeptheDrive.com.

                Teens can also find information and statistics about safe driving at keepthedrive.com. There are also many ideas for teens to show the people in their lives that they care about them and want them to be safe drivers.

                KeeptheDrive.com has many cool interactive ways to get involved with advocating against distracted and unsafe driving.