Name:
Sarah Young
High School:
Mentor High School
Essay:
Picture it. It was your senior year in high school and you were having fun. One night, you decided to go out with your friends and party. When you decided to head home, all of you were wasted and no one put on a seat belt. You were not on the road for long when you got distracted by your friends. All of a sudden you lost control and slammed into an oncoming car.
The next thing you remembered was your family informing you of the crash. The others were thrown from the vehicle and died along with the other driver. The rest of your life you have this guilt hovering over you. You decided to drink and drive. You were responsible for not only the car but everyone in it. Your decision to drink and drive cost peoples lives.
These dangers of teen drinking and driving are very real. Unfortunately, these tragedies happen too often. We as teenagers need to take the initiative and take control of this problem.
First off, parents should be talking to their kids about the dangers. They need to start talking to them when they are young, not when the problem is already occurring. To help, we need a program that does not consist of lectures because kids do not listen. The program has to be one that kids want to join and learn the dangers and responsibilities that driving entails. To begin the program, the kids would hear stories of other teenagers who have been involved in similar tragedies. The kids would be divided into groups of around ten or twelve and a speaker would come and share their story. This would give the students opportunities to ask questions and actually listen to the speaker. The next steps in the program would be the simulations. Here the students would be on a course and attempting to drive while their friends are in the car. The course would be set up just like a normal road, with trees, stop signs, cars, and pedestrians. The first time the drivers travel the course, it would be without impairment. Everyone in the car would be encouraged to behave the same way they normally would. In the next trial however, each person would wear special goggles that simulate what it is like to see when you are intoxicated. The driver again attempts to go through the course. During the trial, if they hit anything, the trial would be stopped and the car turned off. At the end, the drivers and parents would be able to witness their driving by video set up throughout the course. This way the teenagers can see how much responsibility it takes to drive, and what dangers there are when they decide to drive drunk.
It will take some time and money to implement the plan but once everyone realizes how important this is, it will take off. No more lives should be taken by this irresponsible act and the program I have outlined can prevent this from happening.
