Thank Goodness for Driver Education

Driver Education is extremely important. When I was in drivers ed, we learned about how much more vulnerable people are when they are not aware of some basic rules of the road. The biggest rule that my instructor talked about was how important it is to wear a seatbelt. If just one person is not wearing a seatbelt in a vehicle, it can kill everyone else in the vehicle if they were to get in a crash. My instructor had a few different speakers come in like a state trooper and a motorcycle instructor. The motorcycle instructor taught us the importance of being careful when motorcyclists are on the road because they are in an unprotected vehicle.

I think that required driver education is a must to reduce the number of driver related deaths.To get your permit when you’re fourteen or your license when you’re 16 in Iowa, you must take a driver education course. They are very important in helping you know what to do if you were to be in a dangerous situation while driving. I think that implementing testing when you have to go renew your license would be a good idea. Nothing super hard, but just the basic rules of driving such as yielding to the right and how long to stop at a stop sign. I think that remembering those basic rules of the road could really help decrease the number of accidents on the road.

Just recently, I was involved in a car crash. My sister and I were on our way to school and we were just about to go through an unmarked intersection. I was driving and my sister was in the passenger seat. A pick-up truck was coming from our right and hit my pick-up on the passenger side behind the door. I was t-boned and got pushed into the ditch. We were sideways in the ditch, barely able to open the drivers side door. The other vehicle was fine, but he also ended up in the ditch. My sister is fourteen and had just finished her driver’s education course. She used what she had learned in class and probably saved our lives. I had lost my glasses when we made impact so I could not see a thing. My engine was smoking and we could not get my door open at first. She had me feel around for the window lever and had me roll it down. I was able to open the door from the outside and get it open. A family friend drove by right after it had happened and helped pull my sister and I out. If it wouldn’t have been for my sister knowing what to do, I surely would have been freaking out. Because of her, we were able to get out pretty easily.

After the accident, I have been more cautious than ever. I refreshed my mind with the rules of unmarked country roads, because that is where I live. I did not realize how many of the basic rules I had forgotten in the three years it has been since I took my drivers education course.