The Truth about Driver’s Ed

I have trouble trusting adults. Crazy right? Oftentimes I find myself believing that they are overreacting. As a child when my mom told me to put my seat belt on, I usually laughed at the thought of it saving my life. When I was told that I needed to take Driver’s Education classes, I once again laughed and thought that once again adults had overreacted.

In all honesty, I have come to realize that an education in driving is essential for safety on the road. In fact, in the state of Oregon, teens age 15 – 20 without driver education are responsible for 91 percent of teen driver crashes, according to Oregon statistics. So, if I didn’t want to take my parents or my driver’s ed teacher’s word for it, I needed to trust the facts. And the facts ultimately say that driver’s education saves lives.

Throughout my driver education course I learned many essential skills and information. I learned what to do in case of a crash. I also learned about what to do in challenging driving conditions or hazards. I discovered the risks of taking alcohol or drugs while driving. Finally the course taught me defensive driving strategies and maintaining my vehicle.Although it was a bit exhausting taking my driver’s education course, the lessons that I learned from my class will last a lifetime.

The most important takeaway from this course was that there are many steps that a safe driver can take to reduce the number of deaths or accidents related to driving. First, a safe driver should always drive prepared. This includes being educated in safe driving and also maintaining a safe vehicle. Next, a safe driver should never drive distracted. Driving distracted can include eating, using phones, taking drugs or other distractions that can risk the lives of those in the car and outside of the car. Finally, a safe driver should know how to drive defensively. What this means is that a driver should always be prepared for an emergency or for mistakes made by other cars on the road.

These steps for safe driving have become very important for me. In fact, I myself have experienced or known someone who has experienced an accident. When I was eight, my dad was driving me to school. We stopped at a red light and my dad noticed a piece of food on my face. He then turned and tried to get it off for me. While he was distracted, he forgot that we were at a red light and he slowly took his foot off the pedal. He then drove and hit the person in front of us in the rear of their car. My father ultimately forgot the safe driving rule of never driving distracted. To this day, I am thankful that the accident that we were in was so small and not somewhere even more dangerous like a highway. Since then, my dad hasn’t driven distracted and I learned from this experience as well in my driving.

In conclusion, although at first a driver’s education course may seem tedious and boring, it can make the difference between life or death on the road. My own personal experiences as well as the course that I took will allow me to practice safe driving on the road. So yes: adults may overreact sometimes but when it comes to driving you should always listen to their advice.