I have a soft spot in my heart for the town of Acton which I moved too in the 8th grade after spending my whole life in Missouri. despite spending the majority of my life in Missouri I did most of my growing in Acton as I went to high school there. Acton is home to one of the top high schools in the country which creates a home for lots of brilliant minds and activists trying to better our community. Our progressive community is one of the most inclusive environmentally friendly places in Massachusetts, but we can do better.

In our lovely town, most of our grocery stores are equipped with bottle and can return machines. More often then not towns will have a recycle center where someone counts by hand and you come back and collect. The self-service machine is enticing as it is instantly gratifying with no wait or human interaction. As dark as that may sound it makes it seem easier to doing well for the environment. Our planet is filling with trash and if slowing that process means a little less human interaction I believe that compromise is adequate.

It is easy to see when driving through Massachusettes our roadways don’t always make sense due to the fact they were created in the colonial error. This creates the perfect environment for accidents that are potentially deadly. In Acton, on my five-minute drive to school, I pass 4 permanent speed detectors the flash if you are going over the speed limit. Without these people would speed through our small congested roadways often littered with children walking to and from school. 4 years ago a girl was airlifted to Boston Children’s Hospital after being hit by a school van that was going to fast to stop. Many students say they could recall times almost being hit in that same area. Since then a speed detector has been put up and this issue has resolved. These solar panel digital speedometers may take up some space in our environment but they save more lives than do harm.

Since Acton Boxborough high school was located in my town with roughly 5 thousand students that also means our streets were flooded with new drivers. At my AB High, we have to go through a driver’s ed program in which the cars are always updated to the current year so I learned to drive with a backup camera. Acton was definitely a wealthy town which meant kids typically go new cars with the latest safety features. I could not tell you the number of accidents that happened because “I couldn’t see it in my back up camera”. My parents never let me use the backup camera for that reason and i believe you shouldn’t be taught and rely on a backup camera. I think our town should ban the use of back up cameras for those with junior operator licenses. The ban would create safer environment within the whole town and where ever those students go in life.

A ban on a technology shouldn’t be an easy process. I think like any law it should have to go through many hands and rounds of voting before being put on a ballet for the people of said town to vote on. A Ban should be decided on in the most democratic way possible as it is the peoples lives you are affecting.