Driver’s Education

Katelyn Reuter

Driver’s Education

In today’s society our days are full of rushing from one place to another. While on our way from one meeting to the next we need to practice driver safety. With the knowledge you receive from driver’s education it teaches you how to handle high intensity driving situations that you would not know what to do if not going through the classes. During the classes and hands-on driving, you learn the basics in low stress situations at first, such as neighborhoods and back roads, and then continue onto more busy roads, such as highways and interstates.

In the nation lots of car accidents happen that result in death. To prevent this steps can be taken to reduce the number of distractions present that take the drivers attention off the road. Also, warning traffic lights can be placed at more traffic stops to alert the drivers that the light is about to turn red, thus discouraging people from trying to run the light from being startled. Many people run red lights simply because they do not think they can stop in time for the light. If you place more warning lights than you give the driver more of a heads up on whether or not the light will be red by the time they get there. This will reduce the number of deaths caused by high speed T-Bone collisions. Drunk bumps along the centerline of the road could also reduce head on collisions caused by crossing the centerline. These bumps cause people who are either dozing off or distracted because of something else. This makes them realize what is happening around them and helps them not hit people in the oncoming lane.

In my family and friends I have seen distracted driving which can cause delayed reactions to stopping. I have been in several rear-endings because people were not paying attention and were distracted. I have also seen many fatal accidents throughout my high school that resulted in devastating deaths because people ran stop signs or red lights because they couldn’t stop by the time they realized what was happening and the situation they were in. The result of these deadly car accidents are devastating, but sadly they do happen very often. In my school alone, just within my four years of highschool, there have been at least 4-5 deaths from car accidents within our student body, and a lot of them which could have been avoided if people would have gone back to the basics they learned in driver’s education. This is why these programs are important to today’s society, to engrave the basics of road safety into our brains so that when situations happen, we know how to stop and react.

My first steps to becoming a better driver are going to be to reduce as many distractions that take place in my car and around me. This way I can have my full attention on the road and the people around me. Distractions such as cell phones and loud music are simple and easy things to get rid of. If you put your phone on do not disturb it and in the glove compartment then you will not have the desire to reach for it and check it whenever it goes off. For the music I will find a good station before I pull out and will not turn it too loud thus, not having to worry about finding a good song. Keeping the volume down allows you to still be aware of the surrounding cars and emergency vehicles. Driving safety starts right when you get into the car , so let’s make the right choice for the small decisions that lead to large impacts.