Integrate Drivers Ed in School Curriculum

Dylan
Chong

Integrate
Drivers ed in School Curriculum

Driving.
Acquiring a driver’s license is a major milestone in any person’s
life. Many young teenagers look forward to the day that they will
finally be able to take to the road and make memories with their
friends. I certainly did. It is a great feeling to be a young driver,
but it is also very dangerous. I have been in a car accident due to
the carelessness of another driver. I came home from my friend’s
house pretty late–at around 11 at night– and a driver rear-ended my
vehicle. I later found out that this person had been texting while
driving.

I
believe that the completion of a drivers ed course would
help to decrease the average of 34,000 deaths related to driving. I
took a drivers ed course prior to taking my road test and getting my
license, and in full honesty, it was worth it and I’m very glad
that I took that opportunity. The lessons including videos and
pictures to ensure safe driving have stuck with me, and I feel that
they will always stick with me as a driver. I understand the
potential repercussions that would come as a result of unsafe
driving. It is so typical of drivers–experienced or not– to hold a
false sense of confidence when they are driving. I believe that if
other people understood the legal and life consequences, they would
stay more focused on the road. Avoidable car accidents always occur
when a driver veers off focus from a road.

It
is a very simple solution to reduce the number of driving-related
deaths, and the answer is for the drivers to maintain 100% focus on
the driving task. Since this cannot be regulated, I think it would be
valuable to have a mandatory drivers ed course in high
school. The majority of high school students drive, or will drive in
their lifetime, so I believe that this will be an effective
cautionary measure to reduce the figure of driving deaths.

I
have been in a number of circumstances where friends and family
members drive irresponsibly, putting the lives of themselves and
others at risk. These are always tough situations, and it can be
uncomfortable to verbalize their unsafe driving habits to them. It is
essential that they know that their recklessness is making people
uncomfortable, so that they could hopefully drive safer. Any time I
am in a car, I make sure that everybody wears a seatbelt, regardless
of where they are seated.

I
believe that preventative measures to decrease driving deaths can be
taken by integrating drivers ed with high school
curriculum. The efforts of individuals will pool to help the masses