Breaking the Cycle: Training the Driving Population

Tasks which become second nature are often frivolous and without noteworthy mental effort. Such tasks within one’s life usually act within one’s daily ritual; a simple act carried out lackadaisically and accomplished numerous times. However, what if the routine task held a significantly higher probability of danger comparatively to one’s life? Would the individual allow the task to become second nature or would they diligently fight against allowing the act to gain normalcy in their life? At first glance, a reasonable person would agree with the latter. Contrary to belief, this is easier said than done. This difficulty is best highlighted by the mindset the overwhelming majority of drivers have behind the wheel. Driving to and from work, school, and the grocery store become second nature. Slowly routes become habits and overall attentiveness can dwindle as confidence builds with every completed trip. Meanwhile, the danger of the road remains, and all that is needed is an instant where one’s guard is dropped or they are unequipped with the skill and knowledge necessary for their safety. Tens of thousands die each year in this instant a moment. Tragically, many of these moments could have been avoided or lessened if one or both parties had been further required to master the skill of driving.

Thus, driver education is a heavy subject with the utmost importance to society. For every day drivers are given the capability to cause devastating harm to individuals, families, and communities. Driver education is the training for the driving population of the United States, without it the number of fatal vehicle crashes would undoubtedly rise. To best demonstrate driver education’s relation to decreasing fatal crashes, entertain this comparison. The United States can be seen as a factory and drivers within the States are its workers. The workers of the factory are assigned all to monotonous work involving high-powered machinery. While the rules and safety measures of operation are simple, this machinery can sometimes fault, causing a necessary reaction from its worker. If all workers are trained frequently in common mishaps, defensive strategies to counter the rare occurrences, the issues will be rarely detrimental to the worker. Counter so, if the workers are trained once and only when they violate the rules, they are not properly equipped to counter the unforeseen mishaps of the machinery. The same concept can be directly applied to driver education and the necessary measures that must be taken to reduce fatal wrecks. If the population of United States drivers are frequently reminded of the dangers which they face and trained to combat common occurrences on the road, the overall safer driving would be for all. Without proper training how can an individual process and react to the unforeseen?

For this example to become reality the United States government would have to pass legislation mandating defensive driving courses and further training to be completed by the public annually. This would address the issue of only being trained when you disobey traffic laws and allow individuals to grow their knowledge of defensive driving, which may one day save their health, car, finances, or life. I advocate for this knowing the good it would serve the driving population because I have witnessed firsthand the power of a properly trained driver by my mom. I will never forget when one day we were driving home from my middle school. We were driving down our town’s small highway when a car turned out in front of us at a considerably close distance, having certainly overlooked our vehicle or simply not checked to their left. I remember the feeling in my stomach, dropping from within me as I braced for what was surely going to be a painful next five seconds. My mother however reacted in an instant, hitting the brake, swinging left then right, and stabilizing the vehicle all within a matter of seconds. With our nerves rattled and hearts beating through our chests we pulled into a lot to breathe heavily in silence. When I gathered control over my sudden jolt of adrenaline I attempted a joke asking where she learned to pull off such a maneuver. Having not laughed nor smiled she told me her father, a Texas State Trooper, had made her complete several defensive driving courses when she was younger, and the long-held knowledge had finally come into play. 

Such a bewildering experience has convinced me to this day of the extent to which driver education can liberate an individual from the occurrence of a catastrophic situation. Personally, my part within the factory of workers is to myself be fully trained, educated, and confident in my abilities before operating the deadly machinery. My responsibility when operating is to be fully alert, apply my knowledge and training, and uphold the objective that is the safety of others. My due diligence extends beyond the responsibilities of a driver and into the community. To push for increased frequency of driver education. When in casual conversation standing against reckless and dangerous driving behavior and habits. By never faulting and doing my part for those around me, I can improve the safety of others on the road.