Concepts to Better Driving

It was the end of summer 2019 and my Dad was making the ritual commute of driving me from his house in Orlando down to my mom’s house in Homestead. It’s about a four hours drive and the commute is mostly on highways. I was preoccupied on my phone when I noticed it – the car in front of us dramatically swerved and flipped over. From what I could tell, what initiated the accident was that a car slowly drifted toward the guardrail, and as a reaction the car swerved back into the road. A second car that was on the road, saw this correction and quickly jerked the steering wheel to avoid the first car. This car ended up flipping in front of us and lucky our car was far enough back for us to be able to avoid it and pull off to the side. This accident could have likely been prevented had there been better driver training.

One could be the perfect driver, but still get into an accident because of the inexperience of other drivers. Some would probably retain the knowledge if taught by another person who has enough experience. I believe there would be less accidents if instructor-led driving courses were required. Implementing this required course will not only reduce deaths on the road, but will open the eyes of those who would likely drive irresponsibly. By having an experienced instructor, using real world examples, it will show drivers the importance of drivers ed.

Drivers have many distractions. I have witnessed people text and drive while being a passenger in the car. I’d kindly ask them to stop and do it some other time. I believe the passenger should speak up if the driver is doing something that is unsafe. Some drivers need to understand that they may not be the only one getting hurt when they get into an accident, but possibly others around them. The distraction of phones causes many accidents on the road. According to the National Safety Council, approximately one out of four accidents in the US are caused by cell phone usage while driving. Whenever I have the opportunity to drive, I keep my phone in the back seat so that I have little to no distractions. I would recommend others to do this because it wouldn’t allow them the opportunity to reach for the phone. If you were messaging someone before driving, let them know that you are about to drive, and hopefully they will understand that you need to stay focused.

There are many good driving habits that could be learned in order to improve the way we drive on the road, and many of them require small changes. If we focus on the small changes, the outcome would be greater safety. If we were to incorporate instructor-led instruction, passengers speaking up when they see a driver distraction, and eliminating all cell phone use, then we will see big changes in driver safety. From all my years on the road, there is only one thing I can say – the road is a dangerous place so treat it as your life depends on it.