Driving Safely Is A Must

It doesn’t take much. One slight mistake on the road can, at a minimum, seriously injure people or end lives. Oftentimes, even when one does everything right, the mistakes of others behind the wheel can be detrimental to innocent people. It is important to not only gain head knowledge but to also have hands-on, behind the wheel experience, in order to be a safe and educated driver. For this reason, I believe that driver’s education is crucial in the effort to reduce deaths as a result of driving.

Various methods of education may be taken to help with the reduction of deaths related to driving. Perhaps more behind the wheel hours of training should be required prior to testing for one’s driver’s license. In addition, implementing driver’s education with simulators may also be extremely beneficial for new drivers. Simulators would allow drivers to be trained under specific driving conditions and in specific driving environments. For example, placing new drivers in situations where they encounter life-like hazards would help improve their reaction times in dangerous moments on the road. This may also give them the confidence required to make good and safe decisions under stressful road situations. Whether drivers experience rainy/snowy conditions or simulated accidents, this type of training, would enable them to know how to react in such situations. This type of risky situations training in a controlled environment would help better prepare drivers without causing actual physical harm to others on the road. The levels of trainings may vary from “beginner” to “intermediate” to “advanced” and perhaps this form of driver’s education with simulators would be best if implemented in school systems to ensure that all high school students are properly trained to drive in hazardous scenarios prior to graduation. If school systems are unable to provide this type of training, another idea would be to make such training required in addition to the online and behind-the-wheel training already in place for new drivers.

I am grateful that I, personally, have not been in a car accident to this date. However, I am deeply aware of the consequences that can come from drivers’ errors. In fact, a car accident that resulted in immediate death has impacted my family greatly. My father’s identical twin brother was killed in a car accident at the age of nineteen. My dad was the first to arrive at the scene of the accident and was asked to identify his brother’s body. I cannot even imagine the weight of that particular moment and the fear that overcame my dad when he saw a yellow tarp covering a body on the ground. As he walked up to the scene, my dad immediately recognized the sneakers he had let his brother borrow that morning poking out of the yellow tarp. This is an image that has remained with my dad his entire life. There is no doubt that my family has been robbed of a relationship that we deeply desire to have had. My sister and I never met my uncle, and while we are told we resemble him in appearance and mannerisms, we will never know him from personal experiences due to a terrible car accident on a California highway.

As a result, safe driving is something that is a constant reminder in my family. Understanding that all it takes is a fraction of a second for something to go horribly wrong is extremely important. Yet it is also important to not live in fear and hide from the privilege and responsibility of driving. As a new driver myself, having an awareness of my surroundings, obeying traffic laws, limiting distractions, and having the ability to quickly identify and execute on decisions necessary in specific situations are ways that I intend to be a safe driver on the road. My parents have spent countless hours educating me about driving and road rules, yet at the end of the day, personal hands-on experience is just as important as the head knowledge I have received. I have learned to give myself extra time to reach a destination so as to help eliminate the stress that often comes with the feeling of not arriving on time. Furthermore, I have learned that traffic can never fully be predicted and circumstances, especially the ones one the road, are rarely controlled. Having confidence in oneself to make good decisions quickly is also important when it comes to being a safe and educated driver. For these reasons, I am a firm believer that new drivers should obtain as much driver’s education as possible in an effort to minimize the startling statistics of road fatalities.