The Importance of Drivers ed

In the driver’s seat scholarship

By Luke Maloney-Grimes

Q1.

Drivers ed is paramount in reducing deaths on the road. The Huffington post released an article on the top 15 car accidents causes in the U.S (among them included distracted driving, speeding, running red lights, wrong way driving, animal crossings, etc) which they are all, almost 100% of the time, due to driver’s improper awareness on the roads and almost always would have been avoided otherwise if they had been educated appropriately and comprehensively.

Q2.

More causes within this list are speeding, reckless driving, rain, tailgating, construction sites and animal crossings. By this point it is not difficult to connect the dots and see that a significant causation factor, is due to lack of defensive driving skills. This is why I believe that a comprehensive defensive driving course should be mandatory for all new drivers in the U.S and should be retaken on licence renewal.

This is realistically an effective solution that will educate drivers and reinforce the importance of driving defensively. This will help to not only ensure each drivers ed of the law on a regular basis, but to also build each driver’s intuition, reaction and awareness skills in various situations and environments on the roads.

Q3.

On one occasion, in my home country of New Zealand, I was driving with my wife home from my beach house with a car full of belongings. Since the car was so packed with our stuff at the time, I thoughtlessly put my Bluetooth speaker by my feet while driving.

I thought nothing of it, but I now know how dangerous it was, because when I was approaching an intersection my foot got caught on the speaker and I did not have enough time to put my foot on the brake. We ended up rear-ending the car in front of us and It was traumatic. My wife experienced mild whiplash from the impact which was devastating to me.

However other than this, thankfully we were not going (which we were earlier on the trip) at a high enough speed that would have left us seriously injured or dead. A huge risk, all because of my lack of awareness.

I should have known that you should never place items by your feet when driving, but I was oblivious to that at the time and thought nothing of it. I have learned my lesson and will never do that again, because I know that it could have been much worse!

Q4.

I am personally going to complete a defensive driving course to make sure there is nothing I am unaware of or uneducated on. I am going to do this for not only myself, but for my family, friends and society because it really is so important.

I am also constantly encouraging friends and family to complete a defensive driving course as it is worth investing in your safety when car accidents, according to the U.S Dept of Transport, are one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.