The Importance of Drivers Ed

Natalie
Miller

May
3, 2020

The
Importance of Drivers ed

Ever
since I earned my driver’s license, I have been on the go. To
imagine how the past two years of driving would have been with little
to no drivers ed is almost impossible to think of. One
thing is for certain, the likelihood that someone would have gotten
hurt as a result of my driving would be huge.

Drivers
education teaches teenagers and adults alike the rules of the road,
the workings of a car, and the laws set in place to keep people safe.
These lessons are essential to our society in order to save lives on
the road. People tend to forget the power they hold when they sit
behind the wheel of a car, and that power is often abused. When
people are not properly educated on driving protocol, such as not
touching your phone, keeping your hands on the wheel, being aware of
pedestrians no matter what, and more, lives are lost. I believe that
in order to reduce the number of driving related deaths, we must put
more emphasis on the importance a driving instructor has in teaching
young adults the ways of the road and do so by increasing pay. Just
like teachers, these individuals who dedicate a large portion of
their careers to teaching others how to drive safely must be given
the right compensation for the importance of their role. By
increasing the pay of these instructors, more qualified candidates
who will be able to give students the best driving education will be
attracted to the job, and the entire system will raise in legitimacy.

One
of the other huge issues in today’s driving are the little
forgotten bits of information, such as to drive slower when it is
raining out, or to let the passenger change the radio station rather
than the driver. The biggest thing that can be done to change these
situations is for the passengers in the car to remind the driver of
the effect those little mistakes can have. Especially for adults, the
lessons learned in drivers ed classes often are forgotten,
so a reminder can go a long way. I know when I took drivers ed, I
started to notice little things my family members were doing wrong
that I hadn’t known about before. These mistakes were not
purposeful, so a reminder of the rules and norms of driving safely
was all that was needed to make a change.

Driving
is a very big responsibility, and so it is important to constantly be
reevaluating how we approach it. So many lives are lost each year
because of car accidents, whether it be a simple mishap, bad
weather’s influence, driving while intoxicated, etc. I believe that
by improving the drivers ed system, and by reminding our
family and friends of the safe habits, a lot of change can be made,
and a lot of lives will be saved.