Name: Kodee Panprom Soetamin
From: Longview, Washington
Votes: 0
Drivers and You, a Proactive Approach
One
of the very first lessons in understanding the road came shortly
after I got my permit. It was simple, I was preparing to take a turn
after stopping. The person was not signalling for a turn, so it made
sense for me to go. My mother told me otherwise, she told me to not
trust other drivers, and to an extent she was right. Driving
defensively is the method that is preached in drivers ed, and it
should be followed to a T. Of course, most drivers do, there are the
few that drive quite aggressively. Being able to educate drivers is
instrumental in reducing the amount of lives lost to driving
incidents. The more that the idea of driving to protect yourself is
proliferated, the less likely there is danger of creating
“aggressive” drivers. In order to prevent all of these deaths, it
should be shown that driving is ultimately up to you. Whether or not
you get into an accident is all about worrying about your safety. In
my experience, driving is all about knowing what other people will
do. My father and I were in the car, we saw an open turn lane and we
took it. It was the carelessness of another driver that caused us to
get into a collision. They had not fully checked if it was safe to go
from a stop, which resulted in our collison. Driving is all about
taking preventative measures to decrease the odds of another driver’s
carelessness affecting you. To become a safer driver for yourself,
and the people around you, it would be recommendable to follow all of
the laws. No matter how tempting it is to speed, following the limit
will decrease your risk. Another thing that will help is making your
own intent clear to other drivers, that is to say signal. It is in my
“vast” experience of eighteen years that not signalling causes
problems not only logistically, but emotionally. I have bared witness
to the rage of my friends and family that are cut off or randomly
turned out in front of. Preventing these sort of things will lead to
a safer road. If we travel like this, then the end of the road may
not have to be inside of your vehicle.