Tuesday, March 4, 2008

PLN 2

Though the rate of teen deaths killed in car crashes has dropped by more than a third, too many are still dying on the road. It doesn't take a genius to discover where all these deaths come from. Teen deaths in vehicular accidents are due to one main factor: not buckling up. State laws drive down teen-motorist deaths by Kieran Nicholson of the Denver Post talks about how if more teens buckled up, less would die on the road. This article also talks about how state officials have started creating more serious punishments for drivers and passengers who are not buckled up.

This article matters because it concerns the future. Though less teens are dying on the road, 43 died in Colorado alone last year. Teenagers do not realize how dangerous cars can be, and they never realize that they might die on their way home from school. If the adults of the future continue on this path, how will it look in 20 years. If teens aren't taught how to take care of themselves on the road, how can they be expected to teach their children? If they can't even buckle up themselves, where will their children learn to?

This article matters to me because as I am in highschool, most of my fellow students drive. It is frightening to know that teenagers my age die every day simply because they didn't buckle up. Our school even has a sign near the parking lot that says Buckle up-somebody out there needs you! It never regesters in a teen's mind that not buckling up might cost them their life. I will be driving soon (granted I get my permit) and I always buckled up as a child, and have no intention of changing my habits now. However, many young people my age do not take buckling up as seriously. Atleast one student who attended my school died in a car accident, hence the sign near the parking lot. I don't understand how students can see signs like ours, or hear stories like so many others, and not see how important it is to buckle up.

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