Changing Driver’s Education

Driving safety has been an issue for decades causing over 40,000 deaths annualy. 2,500 of these deaths are of teenagers. As the next generation of adults we need to ensure safe driving habbits in our children and through our school systems. In the last few years there has been a lower amount of schools teaching safe driving and the state of Kentucky has instead introduced a four hour drivers class that is taken one time. Creating awareness to younger students is the beginning to the end of unsafe driving.

There is one key that eliminates just about every scenario that could lead to a car accident: distractions. When driving you should always stay focused on the road and your surroundings. Interruptions such as a loud radio, eating, texting while driving, calling a friend, smoking, and driving while intoxiated are just a few of the many ways drivers are able to get distracted and potentially cause a crash. How can we prevent these? Find the station on the radio you want to listen to and keep it at a lower volume, eat before or after you drive, wait until you get to your destination to call or text a friend, though being intoxicated of any kind isn’t healthy if you were to be in that situation the best way to go about it is calling someone for a ride. When I did my 25 and alive test to get my full license the trooper that was teaching the class said something that I do every time I drive now, “wait 5 seconds before going when the light turns green.” Many deaths related to driving are caused by people not paying attention to their surroundings. If someone were to decide to drive when it wasn’t their turn you would have more of a reaction time which would cause less of an accident or completely prevent one. He also mentioned that if you are in a blind spot and someone signals you to go you need to wait until your view is clear. A young woman went when she was signaled the all clear and got hit on the side of her car causing serious injuries. Those 40,000 deaths a year are preventable by simple steps most of us choose to skip.

Back in February of this year I was in a small car accident due to texting while driving. I was listening to the radio and got a snap from someone I was having a conversation with, instead of waiting until I was home or at least stopped I went ahead and looked at it. Even though I thought I was going slowly while approaching the car in front of me it wasn’t slow enough and I hit them. Though neither the other driver or I were harmed and our vehicles went without a scratch it was an eyeopening experience for me. I was absolutely mortified by the whole situation that could’ve all been prevented. If I would have waited the 5 minute drive back home before I tried to snap someone or if I had done it before leaving, a lot of trouble could’ve been saved. Since this I haven’t touched my phone while driving whatsoever. My messages get answered before or after I have driven or go unanswered altogether. One of my old coworkers were even in a car accident and wasn’t able to lift a certain weight for months due to a drunk driver hitting her at 50 miles per hour at a stop sign. Being cautious is extremely important and everyone should be taking preventable actions before they begin to move their car.

Driver’s education is the most effective act moving forward with safe driving. In my hometown of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky we don’t have driver education in our high school. The reason so many of the students that live here have gotten into accidents or don’t have their license to start with is from lack of education. There’s been two accidents in the parking lot that I’m aware of and a good majority of the students were nonchalant about the situations and with reckless driving. Without somewhat of it being mandated to learn the risks of driving new drivers aren’t being taught proper procedures other than in a 4 hour class they get taught to them once. As a generation we need to place drivers education in every single high school in America. With improvement of educating young drivers to create better habits we could improve safe driving.