I am 17 and I want to be a safe driver!

I am 17 and I want to be a safe driver!

I am 17 and I wan to drive. My mother is too busy to teach me driving working full time and my stepfather is too short tempered and too explosive to teach me driving as well, though he is retired. I have applied for the driving school in my city but I will be able to afford it only if I win a scholarship. And I hope I will win it because in my opinion driver’s education is extremely important because many young people underestimate the dangers on the road. If I am given a chance to go to the driver’s school and be taught by professionals, I will eventually contribute to reducing the number of deaths caused by poor driving. I will potentially save not only my life but also lives of many other drivers who happen to drive on the same road with me. This is one of the steps to reduce the number of deaths related to driving in our country.

The second step can be showing documentaries on the topic at schools/colleges. My mother used to have such practices when she was young, even at the kindergarten level. Kids and teenagers can be shown well prepared documentaries explaining the importance of safety on roads and the necessity of driver education. Watching an interesting documentary can be supplemented by fun activities and competitions and quizzes. Why not to organize a driver education week at High Schools and Colleges/Universities? I can imagine the participation rate of such event for young people, where they can learn, share their ideas and even practice driving. If I were to organize it I would include all High school students, regardless if they already can drive, have a vehicle or not yet. It can be a great platform to exchange ideas and knowledge between professionals, teachers/staff and students. Students may even be asked to make short documentaries which will be a good way to attract young people to watch local. And of course, the best documentary film producers must be recognized and appreciated at the city level. This, in turn, will draw more attention to driver education in a community!

Luckily, I have not been in a car accident myself but my grandmother was injured and suffered health loses. Her neck and spine were badly injured and she was emotionally hurt as it was not her fault. She was compensated financially but what about the health consequences? Her neck still hurts! She has become a more careful and defensive driver since her accident but I still believe it could have been avoided if all those, who happened to be on the road that day have been properly educated to drive.

Thus, to avoid hurting others and being hurt ourselves we must take driver education seriously. Especially boys, who think they can drive perfectly since age two (yes, they played with car toys but they still need to get properly educated!). Besides the steps described above, spreading awareness by posting warning signs on roads can be another way to remind drivers about safe driving. Many people ignore the law and use cell phone while driving and they must be reminded to drop this habit which can cost several lives, including their own. Instead of silly adds and commercials on the roads and on TV, we can post something to remind about road safety. It costs cities money but government can afford it for our own good. In the long run we will save money on endless medical surgeries of car accidents victims and save more as a society. If one calculates the cost of all medical surgeries and transportation involved to save lives of those suffered in an accident it will undoubtfully exceed the budget to educate High School students at schools for free. Part of the expenses may be carried by insurance companies in collaboration with the government.

If every person could take driver education more seriously and all parents could consider sending their kids to driver schools, society in general could save more lives annually. If it is a matter of money, I would propose to each High School introduce free driver education classes for all High School students and even college freshmen. At the end of the day, everyone in this country drives and it is a matter of community well-being. From my side, I promise that I will study driver education class carefully and make sure I follow all rules and regulations that I will learn and that I already know. I want to be a safe driver, life is too precious to lose it in a car accident!