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Stop the Bloodshed on the Roads
Every day teenagers are killed or injured in accidents that destroy their lives and those of their families.
Can these accidents be prevented?
Young people are involved in a lot of accidents that are caused by social pressure and by the exciting experience of driving as new drivers.
Here are some examples of accidents that teenagers were involved in :
Nahum
Nahum's son was drunk when his girlfriend was killed. Limor was 18 years old when she and her boyfriend went out to have a good time. Maybe they had a good time, but the end was wasn't fun for anyone at all.
Nahum was drinking and then they decided to go back home. On the way he lost control of the car and they crashed into a tree. Limor died a few hours later. Nahum was arrested. He had just got his license four months earlier.
Tali
It was eight o'clock in the evening. Tali was tired. She hadn't slept the night before becasue she had been studying for her Bagrut in Math. That evening, here boyfriend called her and persuaded her to come out with him. She asked her parents for the car and they let her have it although they knew she hadn't slept all night because they wanted to give her a treat after she had studied so hard. But Tali didn't even reach their meeting place. She fell asleep at the wheel...
Dudu
Dudu was eighteen years old. Two weeks ago he failed his fourth driving test. He was very disappointed and too ashamed to tell his friends.
A week later they wanted to go to a party together. Dudu's family was the only one with a car so they asked him to take them all in the car. He didn't dare tell them the truth. Although it was raining he was sure that after 38 lessons and four tests he could drive well enough. His parents had gone out without the car! He took the keys...
Suddenly the car skidded and he lost control... Both Dudu's legs are paralyzed and he will probably be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Conclusion
There are so many accidents that teenagers can prevent. We have to understand that the laws are there for our own good and we must take them seriously. We should put on the safety belts, we should drive only if we have a license (unlike Dudu) and we should not drink it we want to drive (like Nahum did).
In addition we must not give in to social pressure. We should try and influence others and maybe that way we can help reduce the killing and the injuries. If the weather is bad (like the day when Dudu skidded or the road itself is dangerous, then we must drive extra carefully and not think that we are in a hurry to get somewhere.
Perhaps most important of all, we mustn't drive when we are tired (like Tali did).
Some of us voluteeer at the Centre for the Prevention of Accidents and there we learn how to pass on this information to others and to help them to realize how important it is.
As volunteers in the field of prevention of accidents and as teenagers ourselves, we recommend to you all:
Leave your ego at home and do everything to prevent accidents.
This article previously appeared in TEN - The Youth Newspaper of the Amit & Amal Schools in Safed, Spring 1998.
For related materials, check out the Road Safety Project, Teenage New Drivers Homepage and/or Teens at Risk
© 1998, Amal Pedagogical Technological Center
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