Get Smart with Driver Education

Get Smart with Driver Education

Too often, drivers take to the road with little instruction or education on how to drive safely. As a result, vehicle-related deaths occur, bringing tragedy to the lives of drivers, victims, and their loved ones. The path to reducing the number of accidents, and consequently deaths, lies in teaching safe driving.

Providing instruction to drivers on how to drive safely will be the difference between safe transportation and damaged lives. Drivers should be properly instructed by qualified officials before they can pass their drivers test and receive a license. This could be accomplished by requiring traffic school, or driver’s education classes in high school, in addition to a met number of hours spent behind the wheel with a qualified instructor. These courses will teach how to be an alert driver with instruction highlighting functions of different parts and lights in the vehicle, street laws and signs, and the importance of never driving while distracted. These points of learning will educate drivers and properly prepare them for safely navigating the streets. In addition, supervised driving with an official will provide better evaluation of a driver’s abilities than if they were being taught by an unqualified family member or friend.

Educated driving could have prevented one of my greatest regrets. In sophomore year of high school, a month after receiving my license, I totaled my family’s Suburban by crashing into a wall. Until then, I had been confident in my driving abilities. After all, I’d passed my driver’s test, and my dad thought I was capable enough to drive on my own. Leaving a friend’s neighborhood, I turned left and sped up to avoid a collision with the cars in oncoming traffic. My turn came too soon, and I didn’t slow down enough. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the car was destroyed, my dad was livid, and my confidence was gone.

After this experience I realized the importance of drivers’ education and safety. In order to redact the ticket I received from my incident, I enrolled in an online traffic school course. From that class I learned information about vehicles, driving etiquette, laws, and road signs I didn’t know existed. I wondered why it’s not required new drivers learn this information before receiving their licenses. If I had been properly trained on how to operate a vehicle, other than just the basics, I could have saved myself the heartache that came from my accident.

Since then, I have become a better driver, although I am still not perfect. Every driver has room for improvement, and that improvement lies in learning about driving. Proper education would lower the number of driving-caused deaths immensely. Issues such as texting while driving, aggressive driving, and any other kind of unsafe driving can be taught against, providing new and old drivers a better idea of their responsibility out on the road. Teaching safe driving won’t eliminate all accidents, but it’s a step toward safer roads, smarter drivers, and fewer tragedies.