Driving as the son of an Uber Driver

As an Uber Driver, my Dad has a lot of stories to tell. I’ve built my hopeful outlook on life after hearing countless dreams and aspirations whenever he shares conversations that he has with his clients. But I’ve also learned about the negatives of being on the road so much: it’s dangerous. He always has stories filled with close calls and accidents, sometimes of his own accord. As a result, I initially didn’t want to drive at all: I thought it was too dangerous to go out and drive myself. But I realize that owning a car and getting from place to place is essential to living in places that are not New York where public transportation isn’t as amazing. That’s why I’m committed to taking my drivers education extremely seriously. I wouldn’t dare to do anything risky because I understand that my actions when I’m on the road affect more than just myself: if someone was driving recklessly and hit my Dad I would be devastated. I wouldn’t want to cause that grief to someone else. Sometimes, when I’m in the car with my Dad, I see him driving recklessly and I’m tempted to call him out on it. I’m not afraid to stand up for the things that I see as right, and since my Dad is clearly in the wrong in this situation I often tell him. Some steps that could be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving could be to not drive while exhausted, drunk, or medically impared. That will increase the risk of some accident happening on the road. I think we should also increase the rigor of the drivers ed class. It shouldn’t be something that you can half try and manage to pass: it should be purposefully difficult to separate those who will drive responsibly from those who wouldn’t drive responsibly. Maybe they should have people retake their test every couple of years to ensure that people don’t forget their driving principles. Although this might cause some outrage from lazy people, the overall benefits are a net positive instead of a net negative since a bit of convenience can be traded away to potentially save lives. If you’re too stubborn to take a test every 5 years for something you should already know, then you shouldn’t be driving. As an average teenager, I can confidently say that I don’t know a lot of driving terminology. This is a problem with society: Driving is so important that it should be taught in schools as a requirement since it’ll actually be helpful. That way, more people are educated and exposed to the world of driving and they will be more prepared for the test that will dictate their method of transportation for most of their lives. Most changes have to start systematically, whether that be for social or political issues. Driving fatalities are no different. As someone with very limited driving expertise, I want to take the steps to learning basic things like road signs, the mechanics of a car, basic car safety beyond “buckle your seat belt” that my Dad has taught me. Safe driving will also be better for me beyond just safety, but also having the ability to avoid tickets. Tickets could be detrimental to my personal finances, especially once I enter college with limited savings. Those 300 or 500 dollars could be the difference between eating that week or not, and personally I would love to eat instead of paying the government around 300 or 500 dollars. I’d also have more limited access to accessing certain parts of the United States. I live in New York, where public transport is rampant and cheap. This makes getting around the city very easy without a car: most places in Manhattan are walkable, and I don’t really need to drive to get anywhere. However, there are certain places where the infrastructure isn’t as good, and things like crosswalks and walking lights aren’t a thing. In addition, they also don’t have public transportation which means the only way to get anywhere is via a car. That’s why driving is so important, and I should learn how to drive in a car safely instead of recklessly. I will get my license and I promise I will learn how to drive safely after getting my license. Especially since I’m moving out to certain cities for college that are kind of what I described earlier, with limited infrastructure. This is once again systemic, since governments have no incentive to create better infrastructure for public transport. Overall, if the government polled more money into services that people will use then that’ll be better for road safety as well as many other things.