One Flight to Safe Driving

Four crashes in two weeks. That was the rate of car accidents my family experienced while living in Lebanon for two months last year. None of said accidents were our fault, but it still seemed that every time we got in the car, the back bumper of our SUV seemed destined to meet the front of someone’s midsize sedan. In Lebanon, Drivers ed is not common practice. In fact, it’s most common to just turn 18 and do just enough practice to pass a drivers test that can barely be considered an exam. So, what is the solution to the equation adding teenagers and a lack of education about the streets. Reckless driving and a lot of crashes.

Growing up, I never realized just how lucky I was to be in the hands of educated drivers. My family is Lebanese, but I was born and raised in Southern California. When my parents moved here they went through all the necessary education and training to get a driver’s license in our state. So, as a kid I always felt safely cradled by the back seat of our family car as we drove down the freeway. Before our flight to the other side of the world,my mom warned me that the drivers in our home country were reckless, wild, and terrifying. She told me that most people behind the wheel, if trained at all, were trained by other uneducated drivers. The moment I stepped into our rental car, the warm hug of the back seat of an SUV turned cold and scary as I lurched in the back seat while my father tried his best to calmly avoid the chaos of the cars racing around us. There were four rows of cars streaming down a three lane autostrad and every other second we’d brake or swerve to avoid another driver cutting in front of us. Despite my father’s best attempts to navigate the warlike landscape of uneducated drivers, we found ourselves in more fender benders than I can count and more than one frighteningly powerful collision.

While I wish it hadn’t taken flying across the world to learn this lesson, the shocking and scary realities of driving in countries like Lebanon Where we preliminary level of drivers education is not necessary enlightened me to the importance of drive4rs education in creating well prepared drivers. Especially in youth, there is a major lack in the critical thinking and judgment required to be safe when put behind the wheel of a potentially deadly weapon. The drivers ed requirements each state of America require everyone with the intention of obtaining a license to put in the effort required to be a good driver. While no method is foolproof and we must expect that some people are reckless drivers, I speak from first hand experience when I say the education provided by drivers ED saves countless lives daily. Not only do the drivers’ education requirements help drivers avoid reckless driving practices, but they also inform drivers how to best avoid risky situations when surrounded by carelessly driven cars.

Despite all these benefits, the rate of death in vehicular accidents in California alone is 4,100 a year. So, how can we move towards lowering these numbers even further? ATo start, we can make the streets themselves physically safer. By removing unexpected pot holes and putting in the money and infrastructure work required to fix broken and littered roads, we help drivers stay focused and safe. Further than this, by taking measures to make highways safer, like building up freeway walls, we reduce the deadliness of some collisions. We can also deepen our drivers education to help drivers remain more peaceful in stressful situations which can lead to aggravated driving and collisions. Moreover, we can reduce vehicular deaths by teaching new drivers to always stay alert while driving even when the newest cruise control technology seems reliable enough to move your hands from the wheel. We can also encourage drivers to refresh their practical driving knowledge more frequently. For young teen drivers just starting their education, we can instill more frequent workshops that teach them the dangers of driving under the influence as they face the peer pressure of parties, drugs, and alcohol. Additionally, we can make taking the drivers ed course mandatory for everyone looking to get a driver’s license, to ensure an invested safety on the roads.

At the end of the day, there is no way to guarantee the prevention of collisions, and we can never completely eliminate deaths by cars. However, safety measures already in place by the Driver’s Education already save us everyday, and there are a few simple steps we can take to help us even further. I truly love Lebanon in most ways, except the fear I experience when on the streets of a place with minimal to no Driver’s Ed. You never really appreciate the safety and comfort of driving alongside people with education on the roads until you are suddenly taken away from it. Driver’s ed saves lives.