Slow Down and Save a Life

Ever since I could walk, I wanted to go fast. For Halloween I would dress up as a racecar driver and run around the neighborhood trying to “complete” my trick or treating as quickly as possible. This never really changed growing up. In school, I would race others to our next classes, and at home I would watch any motorsport that I could find on the television. As I got closer and closer to my 16th birthday, my dream of driving grew as well. In retrospect, my desire to drive was led by some immature delusions about racing in the city streets akin to the Fast and Furious. This fantasy that I built myself came crashing down only months before I got my license. A well regarded student at my high school died in a horrible car accident right in my own neighborhood. The student was out joyriding with his friends, driving quickly just as I had desired to do. While I knew that driving fast was dangerous, the real world implications failed to strike me until that very moment. I feared for myself and my sister. Would we get hurt while driving to school? Could we get injured or worse?

Thankfully, my driver’s education course assuaged my fears of driving. I learned how improbable any injury would be if the drivers and passengers wore their seat belts. I learned specific hand signals in case I needed to make a move while driving and my turn signals were either broken, or out of view. I took copious notes in order to fully memorize how I could keep myself and others safe on the road. I used these tips in my driving lessons with my parents and with an instructor. Not only did my confidence on the road increase, but my abilities and awareness increased as well. I am glad that I got an education in driver safety as it has reduced my fears and my risk of possible harm. Driver’s education is a crucial aspect of life. In terms of importance for the youth, it is comparable to sex education. Future drivers need to learn how to act on the road and how to react to certain situations. While one might argue that common sense would suffice, a real life example of mine would beg to differ. My first ever car initially had broken turning signals. For about a week, I had to indicate to other drivers that I was turning and switching lanes. I used my knowledge from driver’s ed and I used my arms. Since every driver is taught the exact signs that a driver is turning left, right, or even backward, it was easy to communicate that I had to turn. The ubiquity of Driver’s ed allows drivers to speak a common language while on the road, preventing accidents and untimely deaths. Driver education helped me learn what to expect when driving. I was taught to drive a safe distance behind the car in front of me just in case that driver decided to brake suddenly. If I was tired behind the wheel, I learned that loud music, cold air, or even stopping on the side of the road are all great strategies to avoid falling asleep while driving. Driving is a skill, and like any skill one has to develop it and learn more and more about what is needed to accurately perform that skill. A surgeon would not be able to transplant organs if they had no knowledge of human anatomy.

While driver education does lower the amount of driving related deaths in the country, America still experiences over 40,000 deaths per year in car crashes. There is a lot of room for improvement. A big part of this is due to texting and driving related incidents. I believe that tech companies such as Apple and Microsoft work in conjunction with car manufacturers to create a device that will turn off, or heavily restrict phone usage while the owner is driving. Alongside this, modern technological advances should be able to allow drivers to “lock” their cars from driving while intoxicated, providing a means to lower accidents that involve influenced driving. Finally, driver education should become mandatory learning in school like it once was. My school cut the driver’s education program and as a result, many of my peers got into minor to serious car accidents. Thankfully nobody died, but it is a testament to how important it is to teach the youth.

When it comes to my own safety, I continuously refresh myself on the rules and regulations of the road, and I make sure that I mitigate the amount of distractions around me while I drive. I try to help my close friends and family improve their driving by giving them small tips or fun facts while driving together. I surprised my friends when I told them about the aforementioned arm signals! To summarize, driving is a critical aspect of modern society and driver education is an important part of making driving and in turn, society, safe.