Name: Breanne N Smallberger
From: Hanna City, IL
Votes: 0
The Importance of Drivers Education
What is driver education and why is it taught? Many will argue that driver education is a meaningless class because most of what is taught in that class is already known, or can be taught by the student’s legal guardian when they are learning to drive, so why do we teach students how to perform measures they already knew, and why do you pressure safe driving? Does it actually help the student, or is it a waste of class time when they could be learning a subject such as biology or math?
Driver education is taught in classrooms across the world in an attempt to teach students the dangers of getting behind the wheel before they are legally allowed to do so. In many
countries, such as the United States, students must pass a wide variety of tests in order to get their learner’s permit. From there they need to get a set amount of practice hours behind the wheel with an adult present before they are legally allowed to get a driver’s license. Since
students are also required to drive behind the wheel with a legal guardian, the argument that they could be taught everything then is often brought up. So why do we enforce driver’s education in schools?
In the year 2020, in the United States alone, over 38,000 people died from fatal motor vehicle crashes (IIHS). This statistic makes up a major part of the accidental deaths in the United States. After realizing this, many come to terms with the necessity of driver education in schools,
but that raises the question of what should be taught. Should students just be taught the laws and protocols of the road, or should they also be mandated to watch gory videos of car crashes in hopes of scaring them into safer driving? Is either of these methods even helpful?
Most students, myself included, didn’t enjoy watching videos of people getting crushed by cars, or being thrown through a window to their untimely death, but it is a realistic scenario that should be taught. If teachers and parents refuse to allow students to watch videos of what can happen if the student drives unsafely it allows the student to have a false sense of naivety that they are safe in their motor vehicle.
Many parents argue that these videos can traumatize their children, which is a realistic possibility. Though, this scenario makes many questions if watching the video as a precaution would be more or less traumatizing than being in a crash due to the carelessness someone had behind the wheel. Although along with these gruesome videos, laws, and protocols should also be taught and thoroughly explained to students in hopes of making them safer.
Many argue that learning the basics, such as stopping at a stop sign, and that they should go the speed limit can just be glossed over because they seem self-explanatory, but this isn’t true. Teaching students that they should fully stop at a stop sign, and not speed encourages them to do these things, and pressuring the safety and importance behind this makes it more likely that they will do so. If students aren’t taught the basics, they cannot be expected to understand the more
complicated rules of the road that come along with driving, and this could lead to crashes resulting in injury, and unfortunately death. Along with videos, and teaching the laws, some schools have also had police officers come into the classroom and explain to students the importance of safety behind the wheel.
Talking to a police officer allows students to ask questions about laws that they may not fully understand, but also allows the officer to explain some of the scenarios that they have been involved in due to reckless driving. Between pulling someone over for speed and being on the
scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident, police officers have a wide range of stories that they can talk to students about in hopes of them driving safely to avoid an accident.
To conclude, I believe that driver education in schools across the globe is very important.
Showing videos, explaining laws in-depth, and giving students the chance to talk to a police officer allows for safety on the roads, and also allows for drivers to be more informed of what could happen if they choose to drive in unsafe circumstances, such as under the influence of
alcohol or whilst on their phone. Enforcing this in the classroom will in turn lead to safer roads making death from motor vehicle accidents less common.
Work Cited
Fatality Facts 2020 State by state. (2022, May).
https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state#:~:text=There%20were
%2035%2C766%20fatal%20motor,in%20which%2038%2C824%20deaths%20occurred.
