Education Saves Lives

I think that driver education is one of the most important parts of reducing the number of deaths as a result of driving. I think that it is so important because teaching people who are learning to drive how to drive safely will prevent many deaths. When someone learns from the beginning they will be more likely to practice those safety habits while they are learning and continue when they drive on their own. We need to educate people on drinking and driving and most importantly to stay off of their phones while they are driving.

I think one of the biggest steps we can take to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is phones. If we teach people how to drive to stay off their phones and not have them be a huge distraction will greatly decrease the number of deaths. High school and college-aged students, I think, are the ones we need to educate the most on staying off their phones while driving. If we can teach them that just because they always do it and have never been in an accident or gotten hurt there is always a chance. I think that students don’t realize how easy it is to make a mistake while being distracted by their phones. They need to know that just because it doesn’t happen to you or your friends there are many people who have that same mentality. Those people are now suffering the loss of a family member, friend, or peer due to distracted driving while on their phones. Another step that we can take to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is teaching the importance of being serious and not messing around while driving. I think many young people when they first drive want to show off to their friends or seem cool to other people so they will mess around while they are driving. I think taking the step to educate someone on how dangerous it can be can lessen deaths resulting from driving. I also think teaching young people how to limit their distractions while driving can also lessen the number of deaths because there will be fewer distracted drivers on the road.

I know of my friends who got in a car accident before, my friend was driving home from a basketball game at our school and it was dark out and all of the sudden a deer ran across the road and she hit the deer and they were on the side of the road. This accident was not a result of irresponsible driving because there was no music playing and she was focused on the road and not talking to the other girls in the car. I think we all learned a lesson from this accident because we learned how important it was for the driver to not be distracted because if she was, everyone could have gotten really hurt but they were all not injured when this happened. On the other hand, I know of someone in my family who is a very irresponsible driver, he had had multiple problems while driving. These were results of an underlying alcohol problem but he got multiple DUIs and other alcohol-related offenses. This has taught me a very important lesson about not drinking and driving and what the consequences can be. He never caused an accident but he was dangering everyone’s lives on the roads the days he decided to drink and drive. I saw not only the legal effects of his irresponsible driving but I also saw how it affected our family. So while I saw him go through this I learned the importance of having a designated driver when I am older but also not ever touching a car if you have had a drink. I think this was a hard but valuable lesson that I will carry into my future.

I think the most important step in becoming a safer driver is education on driving. I think if people, like me, saw the consequences of irresponsible driving it would influence them to become better drivers. I also think that in bars bartenders and if there is a host or bouncer and they see someone who was drinking leaving their establishment they should not let that person drive, or make sure someone else who has drunk is driving them home. Also just as friends and community members if we see someone making irresponsible driving choices we should have a talk with that person and educate them on how detrimental their driving can be. While driving you are responsible for yourself and whoever is in your car and the people around you driving, so I think it is important to be educated and make good decisions so one more person does not loses their life in a driving accident,