In the late 1900’s a massive trend took over America. Smoking became a huge hit especially among teenagers. It was cool, and those that smoked sat at the top of the social ladder in high schools across America. The success of smoking and its popularity among teenagers was due to the public perception about smoking. At the time of its success, the public perception was wildly positive. There were claims that smoking had great effects on individual health and that there were no negative side effects. There is nothing more telling about the American perception of smoking than the movie Grease, where the nice girl becomes queen of the school after a lifestyle change that includes the addition of smoking. However, America has changed. Americans …show more content…
One was during a semester long class about driver safety education that every student took before getting their license. The second occasion was a prom demonstration. If teenage driving is to change then there must be more programs in place to educate high school students. Driving should be addressed at least twice a year, not just twice in a high school career as I experienced. The way it is addressed is also important. The more personal that an administration can make a presentation on driving, the greater the impact on a student; presentations should be made by community members, parents, local cops, and other familiar faces teenagers can recognize. Repeated, personal reminders of the dangers of driving irresponsibly, whether that be going too fast, not wearing a seatbelt, or driving distractedly, can spark the beginnings of change in the attitude of young …show more content…
Teenagers change their perceptions based on the opinions of their peers. There must be students who set examples as safe drivers and speak out about safe driving to their classmates. A movement towards safe driving requires willing participation by students who have the ability to lead the social shift necessary to reduce teenage driving accidents. These students must not only believe that it is necessary to shift the perception of driving, but also put it into practice when they are driving. If one teen is an advocate for safe driving and practices safe driving when they are out driving with their friends; they will set an example that over time will have an effect on their friends’ driving, which in turn will spread to the rest of the school as more and more people becomes safe
Each year numerous lives are lost due to careless and irrational driving. The disregard for safe driving has been a predicament to Queensland for years. For many years? police have relied heavily on speed cameras, breathe testing and heavy fines as a deterrent against unlawful drivers. Over the years fatality rates have increased, so Queensland Transport has composed a series of safe driving campaigns. On many occasions the transport department informs and advises the public about the importance of responsible driving. They propagate safe driving through the various channels of the media. Their safe driving campaign is now using effective propaganda aimed directly at speeding; drink driving and tired and reckless driving
Drunk Driving is defined as: Operating a motor vehicle while one 's blood alcohol content is above the legal limit set by statute, which supposedly is the level at which a person cannot drive safely. State statutes define the legal limit to be between .08 and .10 depending on what state you’re in. Every 51 minutes in America, someone is killed in a drunk driving crash(MADD). That equates to 27 people every day. Which comes to a total of at least 9,855 deaths in a year. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 32% of fatal car crashes involve an intoxicated driver or pedestrian (MADD). As of right now, in society the total number of drunk driving accidents is slowly but surely increasing and if nothing is done about it, it’ll result in a tragic amount of deaths and injuries. Drunk drivers are extremely dangerous not just to oneself, but to society as well. That is why one serious solution to this societal epidemic is to create a portion of the driving test where drivers will be required to be at least ten beers deep and while drunk they must drive through a set of
The combination of driving an automobile after drinking a significant amount of alcohol has been recognized as a serious problem since the motor car was invented in the 1880s. By 1910, the law in the United States had already codified drunk driving as a misdemeanor offence. Prohibitionists used the danger created by mixing alcohol and driving as a key point in their argument in favor of the eighteenth amendment, as a result of which the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol was banned between 1920 and 1933. Apparently lessons were not learned and many decades later drunk driving has been called one of the most serious problems confronting America today” (Kinkade). This should not be a problem for any country as individuals should be able to control their drinking behavior.
Teens think they know what is best but in reality, they do not (johnson19). Most teens are not experienced enough to get behind the wheel. They had no one watching them to make sure they were doing it right. Their parents do not care what their teens do so with that their parents do not set any rules and guide lines for the teen to follow. They did not have the proper people teaching the teen instead the family decided to do it themselves. (Teen drivers and passenger safety3). They did not practice enough, which meant they were irresponsible and that is the teens fault as well as the parent. If the parents do not start to care, we will not be teaching the right way to drive.
The increasing penalties for getting caught as a drunk driver have increased over the years. The government has taken measures to educate teenagers about the dangers of drinking and driving and the many lives that could be lost. Schools such as Los Amigos High School have taken the responsibility to educate these teens towards the dangers of drinking and driving with the assistance of The National Every 15 Minutes Organization (www.every15minutes.com). This organization seeks to give students the opportunity to feel first hand the effects of drinking and driving with out the risk. Measures such as the ones taken through the Every 15 Minutes Organization would not be taken if the institutions and people had not sought to end prohibition and still try to protect the lives of those that they care about.
The course gives teens a better understanding of safer driving habits to maintain. For example, a while ago a young man was killed in an accident due to a bad habit: the driver was drinking and driving. As stated in a journal, “Alcohol involvement among drivers fifteen to twenty years old involved in fatal crashes, in 2003, numbers of surviving was 4227, and fatally injured was 3657”(Best, 663). Therefore, the numbers keep going each year and it is a reoccurring problem that can be stopped immediately. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2001), “Although 25% reduction in alcohol related fatalities from 1990 to 2000 has been observed; approximately 41% of all traffic fatalities (17,448) in 2001 were alcohol-related” (Sarkar, Andreas, and de Fabrio, 306). This is why there needs to be more motivation to have designated drivers. Drinking and driving is a problem that can be solved instantly. It may not only ruin one’s own life, but others’ lives as well. The number of accidents is extremely...
Every 120 seconds a person is involved in a collision, every day 27 people are killed by a drunk driver, and every year thousands. In order to make these numbers drop dramatically, harsher, firmer laws need to be put in place. Everyone makes mistakes, however, a drunk driver will drive on average of 300,000 times before they are caught. That is 300,000 chances they are taking with not only their lives but every person they share the road with. Drunk driving deaths is among the top 5 things that kill in America.
For many years, drunk driving casualties have been viewed differently. Many believe that drunk driving laws are strict while others believe that it is too lenient. In this generations, where alcohol is cheap and very accessible many tends to abuse it. This people who abuse alcohol is known as drunk drivers because after taking three or four drinks they still believe that they are not drunk and goes back to the wheel of their vehicle without thinking of what will happen next. This drunk drivers are willing to risk their lives and the lives of others because they are ashamed or too big to call a family member or a designated drivers to take them home. If they are lucky and did not die on their way home. Then they create this dangerous cycle of
Driving under the influence is one of the most common and dangerous situations in which anyone can be or be placed. Drinking and driving is a serious offence that can cause someone to be physically harm or even killed. Not only are you putting yourself at risk but you are also risking the lives of passengers in the car as well as any other car and occupants sharing the road with you. Many people believe that increasing fines for drunk driving offenders will play a compelling role in cutting down the occurrences of driving under the influence. However, while harsher DUI laws will look effective on paper, they will not make a significant step in the fight against drunk driving. Although there is a law enforced for drinking and driving in the
Do you know how many people die annually from drunken driving related accidents in the United States? The statistics are probably far beyond your imagination. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), another 28 people die as a result of drunk driving crashes and in every day 2012, 10,322 people died in drunk driving crashes one every 51 minutes (nhtsa.dot.gov). In Massachusetts, especially, Dorchester has a community problem of drunk driving. Dorchester is the spot where car accidents from drunk driving occur with very high frequency. For instance, BOSTONGLOBE reported that drunk driver hit and killed a 7-year-old girl was walking with her mother on the sidewalk in front of 43 Olney Street in Dorchester around 2:15 p.m. At last drunk driver charged that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in state prison (BOSTONGLOBE.com). As in this fatal accident, drunk driving is a terribly dangerous behavior that threatens the lives of both the driver and others. The government should bring in stricter laws to deter drunken drivers. The government also should enforce inspection of driving under the influence of alcohol more strictly. This could be achieved through random roadblocks with quick blow tests. In addition, government should promote activation on project designated driver business.
In almost every vehicle on the road, people are either talking on the phone, texting, or talking to someone. When turning the corner, beware of, not just the red light, but the driver who very well may not stop. Anything someone does besides driving that does not pertain to driving is a driving distraction. No one can any longer just take a relaxing Sunday afternoon drive without their phone. Giving or receiving texts has become a part of driving. By all means, stay in touch!
One reason teens should be able to drive is because good drivers should not be penalized for the reckless driving of others. Although teens are the first name summoned upon when a reckless driver appears, it is not always a teenager speeding along the highway. Possibly, it's a businessman late for a meeting. There are mature teens out there on the road as well as immature teens. Every teen's parent worries about their children when they are handed the keys to their car. One worry is that when they arrive home, if they arrive home, they would arrive with a fine or dents upon the car. Nonetheless, a second worry is that the teen will not be arriving at the house at all, due to an accident that may have occurred. Handing a car to a teen is a test of maturity, to see whether or not they can be responsible with their parents' property. With a mixture of good and...
“Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time,” said by Steven Wright. Teenagers look forward to their sixteenth birthday so they are able to drive. Everyone has felt that feeling where they can hardly wait to get behind the wheel and start driving. Little do people know teen drivers are more likely to die from a car accident than from a homicide, suicide, or cancer combined (Littlefield). They are mostly inexperienced with the road and how to handle distractions. If the age were moved to eighteen teenagers would have more driving experience (Sostarecz). Teenage drivers are extremely eager to drive because of freedom, but they are not aware of the distractions and peer pressure on the road; their experience of driving is not as well as others and statistics show how many deaths are caused due to teenage driving.
Driving a car and obtaining a driver’s license does perhaps seem to provide people with a great sense of independence and freedom. Teenagers need to feel independent in order to learn to become successful on their own as well as realize how to handle life situations on their own, and having a license seems the perfect start and most effective way to do so. When teenagers feel this independence they tend to act more mature, knowing the responsibilities they must now carry on their own (More4Kids). Teenagers often look forward to the freedom that driving offers as well. Teenagers are able to take drives to escape from life’s many stressed, and leave any troubles at home behind without rebelling out against their loved ones.
There are countless problems all around us, some large others just daily problems that won’t matter in two years like what to wear tomorrow. A bit of a bigger problem that has impacted more rather than a few is driving. Teens have to get rides to all sorts of places because they cannot drive themselves. This is a problem for those of kids who participate in extracurricular activities and also to those who like to be with friends and out and about. Some rely on their older siblings and others on parents but that is not a slight bit fun for the chauffer. “A driver’s license gives you a certain level of freedom, but it also gives you an enormous amount of responsibility.” (Campbell) This problem for teens has a main solution, for teens to be able to drive sooner, there is less teen accidents comparing to the last ten years, teens could prove themselves responsible if given the chance.