Playing with fire

Malynda Hale

Playing with Fire

Drivers ed is an important topic that effects the lives of most people since vehicles are used as such common transportation. It is important when it comes to reducing the amount of deaths as a result of driving. The more educated the driver is, the more likely they are to take reasonable precautions on the road and help to lower the number of deaths as a result of driving.

There are many different steps that can be taken to reduce the number of deaths that are resulted from driving. One of the steps that I feel is most important is making sure that drivers are properly educated on road rules and the safety precautions they would need to take in different situations. This can be accomplished by making drivers ed and behind the wheel required in high school as part of the driving curriculum for students. This would help insure that young drivers are well educated on driving precautions and practicing safe habits. My high school only had a drivers ed class and we were not required to take behind the wheel through the school, so a lot of students didn’t.

Unfortunately, I have had an experience where I lost someone from a car accident. My ex-boyfriend was driving home from work on a back road and was speeding when a sharp turn was coming up. He tried to stop but wasn’t able to before crashing into a tree. The tree caught on fire and so did his car with him inside of it. I was always wary of the power that vehicles have, especially when in motion, but I’ve felt different about it since his accident. I think that grieving for him and feeling that loss helped me open my eyes to unsafe habits that he had, and I had from time to time myself. That is another reason why I think it is so important to teach driving classes in high school, because that is the age when people start to form driving habits that they will most likely have the rest of their lives.

I can personally take steps to become a better driver by making sure I don’t acknowledge or tolerate distractions while I am driving that could cause me to lose focus from the road. I can also do my best to make sure that I am in good physical and mental condition before venturing out in my car to help protect myself and others around me. It seems like too often people think that they are untouchable when they are driving a car and have that mentality of “Oh, something like that wouldn’t happen to me.” And I think that it is easy to do that when you aren’t thinking about how quickly your actions can turn a leisurely drive into a dangerous situation. Driving unsafely is like playing with fire, it could take just one wrong move before you lose your life, or cause someone else to lose their life.