Autocide: Death by automobile
Shocking relation to this definition?
In the past decade, over 68,000 teens have died in car crashes.
They say the youth are the future of the world, but with growing technology, will there be anyone left?
It seems like there are more and more wrecks everyday. I mean, more than likely, you'll see at least one wreck every 5 miles that you drive on a busy road. So are drivers getting worse? Or, like the elders say, do kids really just not know how to drive?
Every year at my school, we have at least one student die in a car wreck. This year's wreck was tragic. Two junior girls at my school were going down a rode and hit head on by a logging truck. One girl, Jordan Price, died in critical care. Taylor Hull still remains in critical condition after almost two weeks.
It's heartbreaking to think about someone so young, with such a promising life ahead of them, dying. Especially to me, since she was related to me.
What can we do to teach teenage drivers to be more careful?
Teens today seem to think they are inevitable. They cram into cars and blare their music. They race down highways and swerve and act crazy for a laugh.
Cars are dangerous machines, even when you think you are in control. Just because you are a good driver doesn't mean that you won't get into a wreck. Remember, it is just as important to watch out for the other drivers around you.
68,000 is a huge number. Please, drive safely so that you won't be included.
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Also, from a public health perspective, drivers and passengers are much more likely to die or be seriously injured if they are not wearing a seatbelt. Most people who choose not to do this beg the comment "But I know person X who would have died if he'd been wearing a seatbelt!"
Chances are, everyone knows of someone like this at the 3rd or 4th degree of friendship but these are statistical outliers. Buckle up!
... | c.hel.sie | ...
Haha.. yeah, but in the reverse...
I was in a wreck last year and if I HADN'T been wearing my seatbelt I would have gone through the windshield.
Although there are cases where you are saved by not wearing a seatbelt, but the number of lives that seatbelts saves does outweigh the number of lives that is hasn't. Another problem with teens is the about of drunk driving. There are too many distractions when you have your friends in the car becasue you want to talk and have a good time with them when you should be focused on the road.
Like the case with the Logging Truck I don't think it's always the teens fault, as in that case the Logging Truck has to own up to what it has done. At my school we have several crashes less than two are fatal. I think if anything Cell phones play a major part in this two which Teens are at fault here. As recently I tried texting and driving at the same time, thankfully I was pulling out of my drive way and not on a free way. Even dialing a number is a risk which I've seen many drivers do and that causes problems as well.
It's hard to attribute this to only one cause.
I think that it's a combination of many different factors, including some very obvious ones that people tend to miss:
1.) There are more people driving .. more accidents are bound to happen.
2.) Many driver's education programs are ineffective.
3.) Many driving testing centers pass blatantly unqualified drivers.
4.) Teenagers are naturally reckless. More than in the past? Hard to tell. It all individual case-dependent.