The Importance of Drivers’ Education

Drivers’ education is essential to our safety in our daily lives. Driver’s education works to teach every driver the rules of the road. If these rules were not taught or enforced, more death and injury would occur on the road than what is already tragically present. 

The number of deaths while driving can be primarily reduced by educating the public about the rules of the road, further enforcing rules of the road, and modifying roadways, cars, and devices to further allow for safety on the road. Firstly, educating the public is key to ensuring they fully understand driving laws. People can be educated in a variety of ways; children can be taught driving rules in schools prior to their driver’s education, and outreach programs can visit schools, teenagers, or even adults to educate people about driving safety. Advertisements about various safety measures (for example, rules regarding seatbelts, speed limits, and/or drunk driving) can be shown as virtual advertisements or in the forms of billboards and flyers in order to showcase measures the public can take to ensure their safety. Rules of the road can also be enforced more heavily; by further ensuring people follow the rules of the road, less accidents will occur, and less people will find themselves in danger. Modifications can also be made to cars, roadways, and devices to further enhance people’s safety. For example, technology in cars can be and has been further improved to increase visibility; measures are being taken to improve backing cameras in vehicles, so that drivers can better see what is behind them when driving in reverse, and applications can be placed on mirrors to decrease the space of blind spots. Improving these pieces of technology and innovating new, similar concepts could ultimately result in less accidents and injury on the roads. Roadways can be further improved to increase safety and visibility. For example, roads could be improved to prevent blind intersections. Rules for parking and lawns (i.e. fence or hedge sizes) could be passed as well to prevent blind intersections. Speed bumps and roundabouts could be constructed additionally to prevent speeding on roads— and to further prevent speeding, speed limit signs could be posted more frequently around areas where speeding is likely to occur. Phones could also be further adapted to detect when people are driving, automatically silencing themselves to prevent distractions while on the road.

I’ve personally witnessed my family members driving irresponsibly while I was in the car with them and have additionally witnessed numerous surrounding vehicles committing reckless and illegal acts while I have been driving. A month ago, I visited my family in Israel. My grandfather that lives there is a driving instructor, and I thus learned the initial basics of driving from him. However, this also made me more aware of the danger on the roads around me and made me more aware of the recklessness of my family’s acts. I witnessed family members driving 20 miles an hour above the speed limit on densely populated roads, I witnessed family members actively avoid putting their seatbelts on (the alarm would repeatedly sound, and when asked to put their seatbelts on, they would simply respond, “It’ll turn off in a few minutes,” rather than putting their safety first), and I witnessed several family members shouting in the car at the driver— the overwhelming stress of which could have easily caused an accident (for example, three people shouting differing directions at the driver only led to stress, panic, and confusion, despite its common occurrence within the family). Compared to the other drivers on the roads of Israel, the responses in my family while driving were tame; immediate and aggressive honking is commonplace, as is speeding. People do not wait for others to pass, and it is rare to give other drivers courtesy on the road; there is a mentality there that you must fight for your place on the road, otherwise you’ll never be able to move. While learning to drive, I witnessed other drivers make reckless moves around me, being overly aggressive towards me, making illegal stops and turns, and pedestrians jaywalking in front of me. Some measures were taken to attempt to prevent reckless aggression on the roads; for example, speed bumps and roundabouts are commonly found on every block in larger cities— however, I witnessed people speed through said roundabouts without checking their surroundings too many times to count. Driving in these conditions has made me more wary of and alert to reckless driving on the roads and has ultimately led me to be more invested in driving safety.

To ensure my own safety, I can follow the rules of the road and can remind those around me to do the same. I can always ensure I always follow basic regulations, such as wearing a seatbelt, following the speed limit, effectively utilizing my brake and turn signals to alert the cars around me, etc. I can make sure my car is well maintained to ensure I am safe, that I can communicate with the drivers around me, and that I can have as much visibility as possible. I can also take measures such as silencing my phone to ensure I have as few distractions as possible. I can make sure I always know what is occurring around me by making sure to constantly be aware of my surroundings. Additionally, I can encourage those around me to follow the same measures; I can remind my friends to wear their seatbelts and follow the speed limit, I can notify them if there is a problem with their car, I can notify them of cars or obstacles on the roads they may have missed, and I can remind them to silence their phone— even potentially using my phone for them if they need to contact anyone or need to have certain pieces of information while they are driving. 

Driving safety is not a matter that should be idly overlooked. Since driving is a key factor in all of our lives, proper education and enforcement should be implemented and encouraged to ensure that as few accidents occur on roadways as possible.