Ignorance: The Thin Line Between Life and Death

It is important to note that “curiosity can kill the cat.” However, it is of utmost importance to understand that ignorance is a more common killer as well. Driving a car is convenient, but without the necessary education, the convenience can become a deadly weapon pointed towards your community and to yourself; a double edged sword, essentially. Because of this danger, even though taking driving classes may be thought of as a nuisance or money-black hole, it is a key factor in reducing deaths related to driving.

If driving classes are one of the deciding factors of a person’s life, then it should be imperative for schools and educational complexes to have mandatory driving classes. Personally, I have found it difficult, financially and experience-wise, to find and take driving classes. Unfortunately, it is because the high school I attended did not have a driving program. This resulted in many of my classmates to drive illegally and most of the time, recklessly. To reduce, driving related deaths and increase driving class attendance, I strongly suggest that it becomes mandatory for high school facilities to have driving education as part of their curriculum.

When I was around the age of 7 years old, my family was taking the highway during a family trip when a tire screw from a nearby car unscrewed and hit the windshield at full speed. Because of the impact, the whole windshield was cracked; allowing nearly no visibility and the dangers of glass shards damaging the eyes and skin. Thankfully, my father was able to safely slow down and reach the curb with emergency responders arriving shortly. Recently, during our 2020 high school graduation, I have come to see many of my friends driving illegally without a driver’s licence. Driving without one is the ultimate act of driving recklessly.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic I have had my chances of getting a driver’s licence pushed back 2 months from its original date. This has been the same for my classmates as well. Even though there has been a barrier towards the next step, most of my friends, unfortunately, still chose to drive illegally because of personal urgency. However, there is a visible difference in the way they drive compared to legal drivers or those that have had proper training. Seeing this, shows how important driving classes are because they are one of the key factors between life or death in one of the most common means of transportation.