Safe Driving; the Difference Between Life and Death

Lilah Lucas

Safe Driving

When driving on the road, it is important to consider not only your own safety but also the safety of those driving around you. As the years have gone on, there has been a dynamic increase in the number of U.S highway fatalities, and I believe it is important to address this issue and to do my best to fix it.

To become a licensed driver, one must complete the driver education course, take them behind the wheel license test, and if they pass, receive their license from the DMV. The first step in this process is certainly the first step in which the driver education courses are completed. The only way to lower the number of car accident fatalities is by truly understanding and engaging in the material taught in these courses and practicing it continuously. When the strict rules that are taught during drivers education courses are executed on the road, it ensures that there will be a decrease in car accident fatalities.

To continue this decrease in the amounts of deaths related to driving, an annual driving test should be administered to every licensed person. In such tests, instructors will analyze the safety skills of the driver and determine whether they should continue to drive on the road. They would analyze the following factors: the ability to maintain speed, correct following distance, smooth lane switches, and awareness while driving. If one fails this test, attending a ten-hour class or five consecutive days of two-hour driving training should be required of them to earn their license once again.

I have experienced a car accident before, and it completely changed the way I view the importance of safe driving. This accident took place when my mom and I were coming home from school, and we were in a side-swipe accident with a moving truck. From this experience, I learned how important it is to keep a good following distance and be alert while on the road.

To become a better driver, I can make a checklist of all the things required in my theoretical test stated above and have another licensed driver test me on them every few months. To spread the importance of safe driving to others around me, I can conduct small meetings to discuss such topics. I can also give testimony of my own near-fatal car accidents to remind others of how important it is to be an educated, safe driver.