Drivers Ed or Driver’s Dead

Drivers
Ed or Driver’s Dead

By
Serena Doering

   
No sports team excels without practice.
Driving is no different. Knowing the right moves, the right plays,
means the team plays smart. Not knowing the moves, the plays or
practiced them means the team plays stupid and loses. Same with
driving. Only on the roads, rather than simply losing a game, driving
stupid may mean the ultimate penalty–death. A smart person then,
without knowing the right moves, would not want to play in a game or
drive a car. Taking drivers ed is the smart move–it means being able
to safely use the car as a tool to get things done, help others, and
get to where we need to go. 

Drivers ed is
key to learn the skills, learn the attitude of patience for safe
driving, and especially learn to ignore distractions. It ensures that
the driver’s actions and reactions are appropriate and automatic.
For example, learning to pay attention and not being distracted by
phones, music, or passengers’ antics. These cover the major causes
of teenage accidents. Since teenagers spend years developing these
bad habits in their everyday lives, it takes the directed practice of
drivers ed to overcome these habits. Practicing then would be a major
step toward fewer accidents and deaths. Practice putting our phones
in a place where we are not tempted to look at them. The other
challenge that drivers ed solves is the ignorance of consequences.
Drivers ed instruction can remind or reveal to students about the
consequences of poor driving choices–loss of your car, time lost to
recover from injuries, or involuntarily taking a dirt nap for your
carelessness. Worst of all–think of what have you done to someone
else if you caused the accident–the loss of their car, their pain,
or even their death.

   
Sadly, I know the pain of being in a car
accident. It feels even worse when I know that I was injured in a car
accident caused by a distracted driver. Just three years ago my dad
and I were stopped at a stop sign about to turn right. The driver
behind us was not paying attention and did not slow down for either
the stop sign or for us. She rammed into the back of our car. I
suffered whiplash from the impact and was taken by ambulance to the
hospital. (Anyone who thinks that a ride in an ambulance is fun has
never ridden in one. It was scary.) The police officer pointed out to
the other driver that she should have seen the upcoming stop sign and
our stopped car and slowed down. She also did not react immediately
when she did realize the danger. Fortunately, no one was seriously
injured or killed.

   
I use this sad experience as a way to tell
others about why
I am a defensive driver. When I describe the crash and my pain
afterwards, they can see why
you always have to pay attention when driving. When I drive now, I
continue to practice watching and thinking about what other drivers
are doing and what might they do. I learn to plan ahead so that if
the other drivers do something stupid I can avoid it. When I ride
with someone else driving, I let the driver know if they get
distracted by their phone or the radio. It is up to me (and you!) to
be on the defensive. Use drivers ed to learn the right
movements to react fast and successfully in emergencies, to avoid
distractions, watch for other drivers and ultimately avoid accidents
and death.