Driving; An Art or Right?

Driving; An Art or Right?

Driving. It is an act that most of us take for granted and it falls into a category of daily things we assume we have the right to do. However, if you break down the act, we are conducting a motorized four-thousand-pound plus piece of equipment into and against natural and man-made elements. Driving has become one of the single most dangerous things we do on a daily basis, yet the implications of risks are often lost to need, distractions or plain disregard.

Education on driving is imperative in many ways. Most drivers start off by learning the tools and skills needed to make the vehicle start, stop, go, reverse, turn left and turn right. Then they are introduced to how to work the functions of the car like the headlights, blinkers, mirror and seat adjustments. Within this beginning education is where some language of safety is buried. We are taught to use our mirrors to be proactive drivers to look around before merging or reversing. Many are taught to use blinkers and observe for brake lights to predict movements in the roadway. During these first stages are where driver safety needs to become a priority. The injury and lethality risk of distracted or negligent driving needs to be addressed as a common core. By teaching driver education from the initial interest in driving it becomes a core concept and imbedded in the foundation.

Early driver education in both skills and responsibility is imperative for a safer more evenly rounded driver in their future. A proactive and defensive driver can single handedly make the roadways around them safer. Therefore, they could potentially reduce injury and fatality to themselves and those driving around them. If this education was widespread and well-developed education then thousands of drivers, especially young drivers, could be spared deaths on the roads.

Victims of irresponsible driving appear across all age ranges and locations. Passengers, unsafe speed, electronics and roadside distractions are just a few credits toward irresponsible driving. Passengers and electronics can contribute to irresponsible driving by taking the driver’s attention away from the road even for short periods of time. Unsafe speeds on roadways is extremely irresponsible and dangerous. The roadways are typically marked with a graded speed based on the common road conditions and flow of vehicle and human traffic on and around said road. While driving home on an unfamiliar road one rainy evening, I was exceeding the posted speed limit and therefore lost control of my car in a right turn. My car was sent sliding off into and down a steep embankment. Luckily, I was not harmed but had I hit any of the nearby trees my car skirted between I could have been in much worse condition. If another car had been coming around the turn, I would have collided directly into them. All because I was driving irresponsibly against the speed limit and not taking the weather or my unfamiliarity of the road into consideration.

Demonstration and being a defensive, proactive driver is the best way to control the roadway around you. By adhering to posted limits and monitoring all warning signs and taking heed one can demonstrate responsible driving. Irresponsible decisions on my part on the road may influence other drivers around me to also make the same irresponsible choices. Being a defensive driver entails watching other cars and the environment. Scan and attempt to predict the movement of those around, ahead and behind your vehicle at frequent intervals. Keeping a safe distance between you and a car ahead of you is proactive driving if said car had to slam on his brakes due to an unforeseen event. Making the active choice to not use electronic devices while driving is a choice that heavily impacts safe driving practices. Distracted driving has been linked to similar characteristics of impaired driving. Risk of distracted and irresponsible driving should be taught and expressed honestly and bluntly. Sometimes, one must know that they are not only risking themselves but the entire lives of men, women, families and kids that share the road. They could be responsible for another’s death by making a faulty decision while driving.

In conclusion, the act of driving is somewhat of an art in the way of having your own life and those around you at the mercy of decisions you make. Steps such as early education, consistent demonstration and expression risks of irresponsible driving can help reduce distracted driving therefore reduce deaths on the road.