More Education Less Injury

Driver education is crucial to assisting people with proper driving etiquette. This does not only ensure that they are driving responsibly to take care of their health and safety, but for others too. When you drive responsibly you are not only protecting yourself, but you are protecting yourself from the mistakes that other people make. You can be the most confident and skillful person behind the wheel of a vehicle, but when someone else makes a mistake, you need to be able to put yourself in the best situation possible to not be hurt. This includes skills that you learn through drivers’ education programs such as speeds, how to properly pass, when to merge lanes, and something I feel is especially important in today’s driving, following distance. According to an article published by Triple A there is a lower incidence of crashes (4.3%) and convictions (~40%) for those who have driver education (1).

Personally, I believe that the requirements to receive a license are not strict enough. Increased driver education will lead to safer driving habits. Unfortunately, when I was in high school drivers education was not offered as a class so I had to find time to do it elsewhere. After hearing that it was something, my parents had to do to get a license I thought it would be a great idea. I think that driver education should be offered in high school. Many times, kids are looking to get their hours done and do not always like the classes, but who doesn’t like to drive? I feel that in addition to having to pass a test students should have to spend more time driving with an instructor/grader with them in the car. This can assist new drivers with learning about what they did wrong and what it could lead to, instead of having to learn the lesson of what they did wrong through getting in a car accident. Also, the standards for the testing should be higher. Having new drivers have to miss less questions in order to receive their license will lead them to study more and in turn are likely to remember more of the rules of the road.

While I can proudly say that I have never been in a car accident I can say that I learned how dangerous and important driving a car safely is through being a fan of motorsports. My family has been huge fans of fast cars for our whole lives with my dad even driving one. Being around them, I have seen them crash plenty of times, but it did open my eyes to realizing how dangerous any vehicle can be. No matter how much safety there is in a car, injury is also a legitimate danger. Even my dad who has raced cars reminds me everyday I leave to be careful and watch out for others. I have had friends who I feel drive a bit dangerously. When I ride with them, I do not always feel safe. If they ever touch their phone, I tell them to put it down and if they need to search for something such as directions, I can do it.

I feel that by adhering to the speed limits and continuing to drive defensively will continue to help keep me safe on the road. By driving defensively, I am constantly looking around and making notes of where people are around me. A great example of this is yesterday when there was actually a pedestrian who walked across a crosswalk when they were not supposed to when I had a green light and was turning right. To help others drive safely I am going to continue my habits especially when my friends are in the car with me. I have had multiple people tell me that I drive very smoothly. When I respond to them, I tell them that driving fast and whipping around corners puts more wear and tear on a vehicle, and also driving smoother and slower helps with gas mileage too. Another way for me to stay safe on the road is to always take a deep breath before I start driving. If I am running late or feeling stressed, I may want to drive faster. However, I always remind myself that speeding leads to nothing good. If I do not make this one stop light how much time will it really cost me? Most of the time I catch back up to the person because they get stopped at the next light too. Speeding on the road will cause me to save 30 seconds. Is that much time really worth the higher risk of getting into an accident? I don’t think so.