Teen Driving

"Vehicle crashes are the #1 cause of death and injury for youngsters age 15 to 20. Guns, drugs, suicide, homicide and all other causes take a back seat to driving crashes. Nearly half of teen deaths result from vehicle crashes. For those who survive crashes, some 300,000 teens must be treated in hospital ER’s each year, many with life-changing injuries." - Safe Teens Driving Club

Every year teenagers line up at the Department of Motor Vehicles to take their license test and anxiously await to receive their final picture license in the mail. At first you feel excitement and you call up all of your friends to let them know that you got your license, and you are legal to drive on the road. You have the urge to drive anywhere and everywhere, and you can get from point A to Point B faster than you ever imagined. It is no secret that teens who first get their license have a tendency to have a "lead foot," or a need for speed. However, these urges are very dangerous.

Teenagers are more apt to get into car crashes because we are more easily distracted. We tend to drive with our friends packed into our cars like sardines in a can, blasting our radios as loud as they can get. We think that these things are no big deal , and that to change a CD or radio station while driving, or talk on our cell phones or answer text messages is just what we do. It’s a way of life for us, we don’t think of them as hazards.

We all like to drive with our music as loud as it can go, we think it’s the "cool" thing to do. What we don’t realize is, as the noise level increases, so does our speed. In some cases traffic signs or lights are missed and as a result accidents happen. According to the Safe Teens Driving Club, most teen accidents are head-on collisions, and usually involve teenagers who are not wearing their seatbelts, allowing them to get severely injured.

Most of teenagers today hear information like this every day, and simply shrug it off thinking "it won’t happen to me, I know what I’m doing." What we don’t realize is that our actions have more serious consequences once we are old enough to drive. We no longer just get a slap on the wrist, in fact some consequences could be life changing.

The injuries resulting from a car crash can last a lifetime and may have an effect on their ability to accomplish everything they had their heart set on doing. A car crash involving teenagers are more likely to result in broken bones, disfigurement, brain damage or paralysis ultimately affecting their ability to participate in the activities that they would normally be involved in. Along with the injuries suffered, comes medical bills that need to be paid as well, and if the law is broken during the process, you are also dealing with a lawyer costing even more money. To put it simply, when a person suffers from an accident, not only do they suffer, our economy suffers, and thus, we all suffer.

Driving is a wonderful and exciting privilege to take advantage of, however we can’t abuse it. So I ask you, the next time you get in your car, put your seatbelt on and turn your radio down. These minor changes could save your life one day. Trust me, you will not regret it.