In the Driver’s Seat

Driver education is extremely important, but many people don’t seem to take it seriously. When you look at the amount deaths that are the result of car accidents in the United States, this is a terrifying fact. There are so many things in our society today that contribute to the rising number of vehicle related deaths that happen in our country.

Being more educated on the rules of the road can reduce the number of deaths that are caused by driving because someone who is educated, will know what to look out for to prevent an accident. If we had more people that fully understood driver education, there would be far fewer deaths because everyone would have a collective understanding of what they should and should not do on the road. Good driver education makes the road safer for everyone, including pedestrians.

With this in mind, the steps that I believe should be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving would first have to be to not drive under the influence of any drug or substance such as alcohol. Even today, when schools have started teaching high school students the dangers of driving under the influence, we have so many DUI-related vehicle deaths. This is because everyone believes that they’re different than someone else who has gotten into a drinking and driving accident. A lot of people have the mentality that it’ll never be them, when in reality it can happen to anyone. I’ve even seen people my age joke about driving under the influence as a way of proving that they’re a “good driver” because they can drive while intoxicated. Another step that can be taken to prevent deaths related to driving is to not rush anywhere, this is because many people start speeding when they’re in a hurry to be somewhere. Whether there is heavy traffic or not, speeding can end in a car accident. It only takes one person changing their lane without a turn signal to cause a crash. You should instead take every chance to leave your home earlier than normal so that you can make it to your event, rather than speeding and risking your life and others that are on the road. The last step that I believe should be taken, which is not talked about enough, is waiting at least 3-5 seconds after the light turns green to go. If someone runs a red light for whatever reason, and you’re the type of driver that immediately takes off when the light turns green, the person that ran that red light may end up crashing into your vehicle, or you into theirs. I’ve almost gotten into an accident before by not following this step. I would always go as soon as the light changed, and I ended up almost crashing into someone else because I didn’t see that they ran the red light. Even if you’re doing everything right when you’re driving, someone else that’s not following the rules can cause you to have an accident, this is why it’s so important to be a defensive driver as well.

While I’ve never caused a car accident, I’ve been in two different car crashes and even after those crashes, I’ve been in cars where people I know were driving recklessly. The first car crash was a car rental that my friend was driving, she was speeding because she was in a rush and was swerving through the lanes and ended up slamming into a truck. The damage wasn’t too bad because she was on the brakes, but it didn’t stop in time. The second car crash was the result of distracted driving. My other friend was driving me and two other girls to a corner store and we were all laughing and talking so she didn’t see the car in front of us. This crash caused way worse damage than the first crash that I was in because it ruined the entire bumper of her car. Thankfully all of us were okay but it could’ve been way worse. There was also a situation I was in where a male friend of a friend was speeding and swerving his car that we were in, to impress us. Thankfully it was late at night, and no one was really on the road, but I was terrified the entire time . Regardless, after that situation, I’m wary of getting into anyone’s car if I don’t know them well.

Steps that I could take to become a safer driver would be to turn the volume of my music down because while it hasn’t negatively affected me yet, I know that loud music can be very distracting to any driver and the drivers in nearby vehicles. I could also start leaving my house earlier because I tend to leave late and end up driving a little faster than necessary as a means of getting to my destination on time.

With this in mind, the fact that 34,000 people die yearly from car related deaths to heartbreaking and something needs to be done before the numbers continue to rise. As a society, we need to take driving much more seriously.