The Importance of Driver Education

The squealing of tires on asphalt, the loud crack of plastic colliding with metal, and the burnt smell of gasoline are the first things I remember, all in that order as well. Actually, I think I recall the oncoming driver honking his horn right before the moment of impact, but that obviously did little to stop the imminent collision between our vehicles. As my girlfriend and I waited on the corner for the authorities and our parents, I remember thinking to myself how the hell I ended up in that situation in the first place.

It had started off as a typical day. It was the Monday of Thanksgiving break 2019, so naturally I had the day off. I had made plans with my girlfriend at the time to eat out somewhere in the evening then go shopping. We were both in our junior year of high school, yet she had her license while I still only had my permit and barely any tine behind the wheel. Because of this, she had always been the one driving us around, despite only having had her license for two weeks. But in that brief period of time, she was a decent driver, always making sure to double check everything and being very cautious in terms of decision-making. That night however, it was raining and very dark, so it’s easily understandable that the conditions made it difficult for a new driver to navigate. We inevitable drove past the intersection to turn into my home, so my girlfriend ended up driving further down the road in search of somewhere to turn around. At the next nearest intersection, she made the effort to turn left while the traffic light was green, however this appeared to be a severe miscalculation, as the nearest oncoming car happened to be going faster than she anticipated. Before she could complete the turn, the car hit the passenger side rear wheel, sending our vehicle into a spinning halt. Since I was the only other person in the car, I was seated in the front passenger seat, so had she been going any slower or had the car gone any faster than it did, I would have been directly hit. Thankfully this was not the case, however the oncoming car did hit the gas tank, so once we stopped spinning, the smell of gasoline immediately followed. In the moment, I wouldn’t say I was ever scared or fearing for my life. When we were hit, the closest thing I could compare it to was being on a rollercoaster, they way we were jolted and shoved around in the car. The impact wasn’t much, but it did knock my glasses and phone around as well as deploy the airbags. As soon as were in a standstill, my girlfriend fell into shock and started screaming. I’m pretty sure other bystanders could either smell the gasoline or see it leaking from the tank, because they began shouting at us to get out and that something was leaking. I was the first to move as I unbuckled myself and my girlfriend out and guided the both of us to the corner. Luckily, no one was hurt in either car. The driver was shaken up, while my girlfriend had burns from the airbag deployment and I had a burn from the seatbelt sliding near my neck. The car ended up being totaled, and my girlfriend had to take extra traffic courses but suffered nothing more. To this day, it serves as a major learning experience for both of us, to be more cautious when it comes to being behind the wheel.

To the majority of teens, the acquisition of a driver’s license is no small feat. It is an immense rite of passage that symbolizes freedom. Being able to drive your friends around, or even simply drive yourself around, is an extremely big deal. It signifies the first major step in one’s path towards independence. However, with this newfound ability comes the ultimate responsibility. Remaining undistracted, adhering to the rules of the road, and making sure to respect the rights of other drivers are a few of the key characteristics of being a good driver. These are lessons instilled from the very beginning of driver’s ed, yet we all know that this appears to go out the window once a license is obtained. As people –especially young drivers –get more and more accustomed to driving, over time they become overly relaxed which can result in carelessness. That being said, I think there’s much that can be done to prevent this from happening, and it starts with the lessons and values implemented during the driver’s education courses.

I believe that driver education plays a vital role in preventing future driving-related accidents and deaths. Because it is the starting point for many drivers, making sure to have a good experience and foundation in driver education is extremely important. Going off of my own experience as well as those of my peers, it’s safe to say that going through these driver education courses isn’t all that difficult. It almost seems as if you’d have to try to fail the course. The regular quizzes and lectures were easy to follow and remember, almost as though they want you to pass. This isn’t necessarily bad, as I don’t think these courses and tests should be made be overly difficult or bar people from obtaining their license requirements. But I do feel that the lack of difficulty with driver education courses essentially results in participants not taking it as serious as they should. So one solution would be to up some of the difficulty in these courses. From what I recall, a lot of the quizzes and things we were taught were purely common sense knowledge and easy true or false questions and such. I think doing things such as throwing more situation-based questions and teachings in these courses will help a lot. Obviously, you cannot come up with a scenario for everything, as there are many different things that can happen when someone gets in a car, but with enough variety and repetition, these new drivers will be better-suited and know how to respond better when something occurs. I think another thing that would help would be to introduce more personal stories and scenarios of what happens when you drive recklessly would also help. From my experience, these topics weren’t covered as much in my course, but I think revealing to new drivers the possible consequences of what happens when you’re not careful will allow to be more cautious. I can say from personal experience that these traumatizing situations, watching them unfold firsthand, certainly serve as a lesson. I think by doing all of these things and by improving the quality of driver education overall, it will lead to safer drivers on the road and reduce the number of deaths in years to come.

There are many steps I take already to make sure I drive safely. Things such as wearing my seatbelt, leaving my phone somewhere where it won’t serve as a distraction, and constantly checking my surroundings in the car are some examples. I feel that the last point is extremely important, and one thing that many do not think about when it comes to being a safe driver. It’s easy to focus on you can do individually within your vehicle to ensure you drive safely and carefully, but being aware of others on the road is just as important as well. Knowing your proximity to other cars and what’s going on around you is one of the most important things that I always make sure to worry about when I drive. The accident I was in proved that to me. However, as valuable a learning experience accidents can be, going through with all the above will hopefully ensure that they can be prevented further in the future.