Life or Death, You Choose

The importance of driver education is to ensure safety in those wanting to obtain their permit and to teach the basics of driving. Driver education is important because people may not have a person in their life willing to teach them the rights and wrongs about driving. Driver education teaches you things like looking before switching lanes, watching not only your driving but others, how to operate a vehicle and how to pay attention. All of those things can reduce the number of deaths as a result of driving. For example, you need to look before switching lanes because there are many accidents that could have been avoided just by looking in your rear view or side mirrors before going into the other lane. Another example is teaching how to properly operate a vehicle. Some of those in drivers’ education classes may have never drove a car before or have someone to teach them how to properly shift or drive safely.

The steps taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is to pay attention, do not operate vehicle under the influence, watch out for other drivers on the road, monitor for pedestrians and use your seatbelt. Drivers need to pay attention to things such as speeding, other vehicles or new routes on roads from roadwork. There are several accidents that lead to death because someone did not pay attention to those around them, were speeding by not paying attention to the speedometer, or did not realize there was road work and drove into an undesignated area. You should watch out for other drivers but driving the speed limit and avoid passing if the person in front of you is driving slowly. You should watch how others are driving and be attentive if they are not paying attention. Next you should monitor for pedestrians. Pedestrians are hit all the time due to not paying attention to stop signs or stoplights or just not being seen. If you are in a high pedestrian area you should pay attention to your surroundings and be careful to crosswalks and those who are walking around you. You should always wear your seatbelt no matter how short or long you are in a car. There are many deaths related to accidents that could have been avoided by wearing a seatbelt. The seatbelt protects your body from injury and allows you to stay inside the vehicle in case of an accident. Several accidents have occurred where they have died because they were slung out of the window when in an accident.

I have been in an accident myself and it has made me a more careful driver. Over a year ago I was on my home from school, took a turn too fast in the rain and flipped into a ditch while trying to avoid oncoming traffic. I totaled my car and ended up being taken the emergency room to assess my injuries. Although, it could have been much worse I am thankful to be alive. My seatbelt protected me and kept me planted in my seat and by standers pulled me free of the vehicle until medical personnel could arrive. A year later and I am still paying from this accident in my health and financially. I learned from this accident that you need to pay attention to your speed especially in the rain because the number of accidents that occur in the rain are far greater than any normal day. I learned to be more attentive to my driving and feel that I take extra precautions to ensure my safety since. I find myself asking others to slow down when speeding too fast or asking them to drive more careful around curves because of my PSTD from my accident. I could have easily died that day, but thankfully I have learned from that mistake.

The steps you can take to become a better and safer driver is to ask for help from others, obey traffic laws, slow down, keep your car in good running shape, avoid distractions such as phones, do not tailgate and be prepared. When driving keep a four second window between you and the other vehicle, adjust your mirrors to the correct position, keep your head on focused and directed on the road, track your surroundings, anticipate other drivers around you, accelerate and brake slowly, and follow the rules if the road. Some ways to become a safer driver are to drive defensively, never drive under the influence, do not drive tired, put your phone down, buckle your seatbelts and instill a safe driving discount from your insurance company to track your progress as a driver.