Safe Driving

Drivers ed throughout our country specifically has grown more and more important in the past years. We have so many deaths as a result of defensive driving, worst case scenario preparation, and more in depth drivers ed not being taught to enough young drivers from the beginning of their time learning to drive. So many schools and testing centers are so eager to just let students drive around a neighborhood and get them out, that they fail to properly educate the youth in safe driving practices. Therefore they carry those bad habits into adulthood, making our roads more and more unsafe as time goes on. When these things fail though, we can challenge car manufacturers to raise the bar on the required vehicle regulations along with their safety features. There are hundreds of recalls every year on cars that have been so confidently distributed to the masses. I personally have been in a car accident when I was just a passenger, that caused me to miss out on the end of my junior year volleyball season due to injuries, while making me scared to ride in cars for 3 months after. I was in an uber on my way home from a friend’s house, when a distracted driver came up behind us and hit the car dead on. This gave me a concussion that caused me to miss an entire week of school, while still having restrictions for around two months after the accident. Personally, I know that I can take a lot of steps to make myself a better and safer driver. There is an app called “Safe2Save” that I downloaded onto my phone, and it blocks cell phone usage while the car is moving unless you verify that you are just a passenger and not the driver. Also, making sure all mirrors and other adjustments are made before pulling off in order to give myself the best views while reducing distractions. As a passenger, I try to be as helpful to the driver as possible by controlling music and directions so that they are not on their phones while driving. Utilizing safety signals and making sure that all of them are in working order allows for me as a driver to safely and effectively communicate with other cars on the road about my next moves in hopes to avoid accidents.