COLUMN: Please, learn to drive
Two weeks ago, four out of the six stories on Central Michigan Life’s homepage were related to car accidents.
The simple fact is that too many students are reckless while driving.
This epidemic of irresponsible drivers results in numerous car accidents each week, sometimes each day.
I’m fed up with students driving like maniacs for no apparent reason and not taking their lives, as well as the lives of others on the road, into consideration.
My question to these drivers: What do you value more, your life, or making it to class three minutes earlier?
I’m not saying all of the accidents that occur in Mount Pleasant are attributed to students, however, when driving past an accident and looking at the parking permit on the window, many of them are.
My plea to students is simply to slow down, drive cautiously and adapt your driving to the environment around you.
Mission Street is the worst example of the horrible drivers around us. People go through red lights, pull out of driveways right in front of cars, drive too fast for the amount of traffic and tailgate the cars in front of them.
This has to stop.
As students, we must make a collective effort to be courteous to the drivers around us. However, we must do it for the right reasons.
I despise when people tell me they drive the speed limit to avoid paying for a ticket. How about driving the speed limit to avoid killing yourself and others? It seems people can put a price on their life.
Driving recklessly is not a problem that can be solved overnight. However, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of car accidents in Michigan that have ended with fatalities has gone down immensely with 871 accidents in 2009. This is impressive considering the number was 1,129 in 2005.
I know Central Michigan University students have the ability to slow down and look out for one another. I see it every day on campus when people open the doors for each other, smile at a stranger or help a friend who’s in need.
These are not the characteristics, however, of these same students while driving. It seems as though their courteous button is switched off when they put their foot to the gas.
I leave plenty of space to the car in front of me, check my rear-view mirror every few seconds and most importantly, watch out for the other guy.
As my mom always says, you can tell a lot about a person’s character by the way they drive.
What can you tell about yours?
