Avoiding the Avoidable

Cars are amazing resources that are available for most people in the United States. They allow you to travel great distances in a short amount of time, allowing people to go to work, school, or maybe even a night out with some friends. In order to start driving, you have to first obtain a driving permit through a paper test, and then your driver’s license through a physical test. These two steps are meant to educate people on the correct and safe way to operate a motor vehicle. If a person were to fail either test, they must wait a certain amount of time before given the right to retake the test. These precautions are taken to make sure that every driver on the road is safe. But, since there is no need to re-test your knowledge, some people forget how to drive safe or simply choose not to drive safe. 34,000 people die each year due to driving accidents, and I feel that this number could be higher if the precautions spoken of above were not met. I am very thankful that this number is not higher, because I know it easily could double or triple if people were not given the proper education.

Driver education is very important because it is what helps the number of deaths figuratively low. My driving education process taught me how to be a safe driver, and how to avoid reckless drivers. There have been many occurrences where me or a family member have been very close to a possibly fatal accident due to a driver that didn’t have the proper education or simply failed to use it affectively. People that drive without using the educational standard scare me, but no matter what, there will always be some drivers like that out there which means I have to learn to avoid them. I always stay a good distance behind the person in front of me just in case they decide to slam on the breaks, and I also stay a good distance away from people beside me, because you never know if they can see you or not.

There are many possible ways to reduce the number of unsafe drivers, one of which is to just make the test more difficult. The questions or tasks could become harder, or the number of mistakes an individual is allowed to make can be reduced. I remember getting quite a few questions wrong on my permit test, but I was still passed. Another good option would be a mandatory retake after a certain number of years. I believe this already exists for age 60 but forcing someone to retest after 10 years of obtain a driver’s license could be a great way to help keep everyone far safer. Another option would be to let technology advance, as self-driving cars are already showing major improvement. If computers controlled every car on the road, they could possibly invent technology for the cars to communicate amongst each other preventing accidents an AI confusion.

My parents both drive very safe, and the only time I have ever been in an accident whislt they were driving was at the other person’s fault. We were out of state for vacation when we got rear ended at a red light. Thankfully, everyone was okay and we were able to get a new rental car. I personally was in an accident not too long ago, a driver in front of me slammed on the breaks to make a right-hand turn which had caught me off guard. I was expecting the driver to slow down at a reasonable pace so I had little time to react. I slammed the breaks but I was given enough time to react and I hit her. There was no damage on my car and the same went for hers. At the time I thought I was at fault but once the fear and stress left my body, I realized that I was failing to account for other people’s mistake. Even though I was not tailgating, I was still too close for my comfort and after that day, I have adapted to stay multiple car lengths away from the person in front of me. Most of my friends drive safely and I have never had a problem with feeling unsafe when they are at the wheel.

In order to make myself a safer driver, the best thing I can do is to remember what I was taught and apply it. Passing the test is one thing, but using that information for the rest of my life is another. Following the laws of the road is also a major factor in keeping myself and others safe. The most common broken rule is not following the speed limit, so I make sure to follow the posted signs, or to stay with the flow of traffic. Implying my education, following the laws, and staying focused on the other drivers around me are the things I do to not only keep myself safe, but to also keep those around me safe as well.