Driver Education Initiative – Accidents, the New Epidemic

Remington
Reese

Accidents,
the New Epidemic

One
of the pressing issues we face as a country is reducing or stopping
the number of deaths that happen in cars. 34,000 shouldn’t die due
to negligent driving, either on their part or on someone else’s; This
is an issue that needs to be addressed and stopped now. One thing
that can help is drivers’ ed, and learning tips and tricks to help
drive safer. 

Drivers’
education is vital in stopping this wave of car deaths. It is hard to
stop those that have already cultivated and developed bad driving
habits, but it is easy to teach people what not to do before they
even start. If someone starts teaching young drivers what happens to
people that drive distracted, the risks that are associated with it,
they might start to understand why it is such a problem. My driving
education happened years ago but I still remember the video they
showed that had an accident where the driver was texting; it was so
impactful that I still haven’t texted and driven. There is
something else that can help with drivers’ education: parents
leading by example. 

My
dad has his CDL and he is always giving me tips and tricks to help me
be a better driver. When I first started driving he taught me that
when drivers have their brights on and refuse to turn them off to
look at the fog line; it gave me a direction to look at away from the
bright lights while still having a guideline to keep me on the road.
He is always telling me about new things about the road, he taught me
that the yellow reflectors on the side of the road are called
delinators. My parents are model citizens when it comes to driving;
my dad never speeds, and he has only gotten one ticket (it was when
he was 18, and he has been driving for 31 years). My mom, while not
as spotless as my dad, has only had a few tickets, never texts and
drives, and both make my sisters and me put our seatbelts on before
they even start the car. Having vigilant parents is another thing
needed to help ensure that accidents are reduced. Another thing that
could help is standardized driving laws. 

I
live on the border of Oregon and Idaho so I drive in both states. It
is jarring to have the speed either increase 10 mph or decrease 10
mph; There is an increased amount of road rage, honking, and passing
in the first mile after the speed change that I see. If we were to
standardize the laws regarding driving it might reduce the anger that
causes a lot of accidents. I have had a talk with some of the kids in
my school for another scholarship regarding safe driving and a lot of
people said they don’t wear seatbelts in Idaho because it’s not a
primary law, but in Oregon they do because they don’t want to pay
their outrageous fines. Now seatbelts might not seem like that big of
a deal but having seen videos where people are ejected from vehicles
because they weren’t wearing their seatbelts, I know it is. 

Car
accidents seem to happen to my brother-in law and sister quite
frequently. My brother in law has wrecked two cars, one while my
sister was in the car and one before he met her. My sister and I have
been in one accident and were almost in another one. I can’t speak
about the one I wasn’t in because I have no idea what happened but
the one accident I was in was scary. My dad bought a 1987 GMC when he
was in high school; he saved up his money, worked every day after
school to buy it and that was the vehicle we were driving when we got
into an accident. My older sister and I were coming back from Pep
Band during the winter, it was slick, dark and just horrible weather.
We were sitting at a stop sign when a car skidded and slammed into
the back of the 87’; the truck moved forward and into the road, the
other car front was destroyed and we couldn’t stop the truck
because of the ice. Once it did we got out, made sure everyone was
okay and called my parents, they were worried and told us what to do,
but for those few seconds when the truck was out of control, I was
terrified. I never want to have that happen to me again so I have a
few rules for keeping myself safe on the road. 

My
rules for keeping myself safe apply to me and anyone else I am
driving around. Before I ever start the car I make everyone put their
seatbelt on, and if we there is a DJ I make them sync the phone
before I start driving. I also make sure the music isn’t too loud
so I can hear for anything wrong, and to eliminate the possibility of
distracted driving. When I drive I always turn my phone off and put
it in the center console or on the dash if the center doesn’t open.
While driving I regularly check my mirrors, and watch for other car
movements so I can move out of the way if necessary. I also watch
other car tires at stop signs so I know if they are going to stop or
not (running stop signs is pretty common where I am from) so that I
can keep my passengers and self safe. 

We
need to stop the amount of deaths that happen due to car accidents. I
have been in one and I never want to be in another one, so this is a
topic I am passionate about. I want to help make sure that people
stay safe while driving and the best way to do that is to keep
drivers informed, have them do drivers ed, let their parents lead by
example, and maybe standardize the road laws so that it is a flat
speed for every state. These could help reduce the amount of deaths
due to driving.