Driver’s Education: Leading the Way

Drivers Education: Leading the Way

Driver’s education is a key factor in reducing road casualties. By making sure everyone who drives has at least basic knowledge of laws and the skills involved with driving, many of the accidents that would normally result from inexperienced drivers can be avoided. Drivers education sets a great baseline for drivers to improve their skills and become safe and experienced drivers, as as well as helping young drivers build confidence.

One of the main ways to reduce driving deaths is for people to simply use more common sense. Almost everyone understands that it is stupid and wrong to drive drunk, but many people still decide to do it. Almost 28 percent of all accidents are caused by drunk driving, and yet people still make the decision to risk their lives and the lives of others by doing it. A slightly less dangerous but far more widespread issue is texting when driving. Texting or other phone use while driving is something which I see far too much. I have many friends who refuse to put their phones down while driving, even when they are reminded how dangerous it is. By doing this they actively make the roads less safe, and risk their lives and the lives of their passengers. Although “don’t text and drive” is a message that has been hammered into the head of most teens and young adults, I believe that another important way to fix this issue is parents holding themselves accountable and setting a good example. I have often seen the same parents that tell their kids not to text and drive do that exact thing, which ruins any chance of the child taking the message seriously. By making good decisions about when to drive and what to do while driving, parents can set a good example for their kids and help keep them safe on the road.

Driver’s education is essential to keeping the roads safe. Driver’s education ensures that everyone who is driving has at the very least a decent idea of how to be a safe driver for themselves and others. When everyone knows a decent amount about being a safe driver, most easily avoidable accidents will be avoided. I personally have been affected by someone driving when they were not licensed to. This person by extension had not been through driver’s education and didn’t have the basic knowledge to keep themselves and others on the road safe. When I was very young my dad was in a car accident with me and my younger sister in the car. Luckily, no one was badly hurt. It turned out that the person driving was not licensed to drive, and blew straight through a stop sign. Had this person been through driver’s education, they would have been more educated on how to properly drive and most likely would have stopped properly. My dad’s car was totaled. It is also important that new drivers understand the serious responsibility that driving is. Any time that someone drives a car, they have the potential to seriously hurt someone, which is a concept that most unlicensed drivers do not consider. People who have been through drivers education generally understand the risks and take driving more seriously.

I personally could do a better job focusing on the road. Although I do not text and drive or drive drunk, I do sometimes lose focus while driving, especially on long trips. Whether I am listening to music or focusing a little too closely on the scenery around me, I sometimes realize that I should be paying more attention. All it takes is a tiny moment of distraction at the wrong time to cause a serious accident. Even drivers who almost always follow the rules of the road should take a look at themselves and ask “am I being the safest driver I can be?”. Some things that I can do to improve my safe driving and help myself to focus on the road is by turning my music off or down when I get into busier situations, such as when I enter a town or merge onto a busy interstate. If everyone works to improve themselves as a driver, driving deaths can be drastically reduced.

Driver’s education helps to avoid the many easily avoidable accidents. When everyone knows the basic rules of driving, everyone is safer. Driver’s education is incredibly important to clean up our roads and reduce driving deaths, as well as building up confidence for new drivers so that they do not panic when they are in their first stressful driving situations.