Drivers Re-Education

Driving safety is of the up most importance. Everyday we pass by accidents on the road wondering if a stranger is okay, was some one hurt or worse killed. It doesn’t seem like currently we should be having to worry about this with all the advancements with computer navigation, hands free calling and texting and blind spot indicator lights. Yet every day there are more and more accidents. I remember being in high school before I took drivers training education I had this wonderful teacher, her name was Mrs. Brennen, she had us watch an exposé from Opera about texting and driving. I remember watching adults my parent’s ages trying to prove on an obstacle course how they could text and drive and every single on of them failed. I knew then, this practice would stop with me.

In drivers training I paid very close attention to the instructors; I begged my parents to let me drive and perfect the craft of the four-wheel beast. When I got my license and my first car, I was queen of the road, until none of my friends wanted to drive with me. I had a no cell phone policy when we were in my car. Passengers were to have their phones on silent. If you were in my passenger seat you were my navigator, and my tolerable friends became good at reading maps and giving courteous directions. I taught my little sister and brother to drive when they were ready. They wanted to learn from me because according to my sister “you’re the best driver in the family”. I take the title seriously. Safe driving is the only driving we are to do.

This title comes to me in not good graces. When I was thirteen my sister was struck by a driver running a red light after school. This driver was the captain of the water polo team, and he was texting and driving. My Father when I was eighteen called me while I was at work after school because he had caused an accident in rush hour traffic, he was texting and driving. When I was twenty-two, I was involved in an accident with a boy I was going steady with, who was texting and driving after I begged and pleaded him to stop while we were on a highway. That text message was more important than my life. His aunt was killed later that year walking home by a girl I went to school with drunk driving and texting. My life was almost ended by a man who hit my car head on at fifty-five miles an hour going over the white lines, texting and driving. None of my accidents were caused by myself, they came from people looking screens, not the road.

Being involved in accidents, seeing accidents make me wonder. With all these safety features in cars, why is it that we have more accidents today then back when? I believe it is the hands free. I think it is this text to talk features. I think the blind spot indicators are great. Self-braking vehicles are amazing. However, your machine is only as smart as the operator. With Tesla encouraging self-driving it is encouraging unsafe distractions. I think if we want to see fewer accidents, we need to crack down on “texting and driving” like we did in the early 2000’s. There should be DUI like check points in rush hour traffic since the roads are at a stand still anyway, to check for distractions in a vehicle. I think tickets for distracted driving should be as high as a Operating under the influence tickets.

Finally, I believe that since we must renew our drivers’ licenses, and license plate registration, we should have to renew our education. We should be required to attend a class like drivers’ education to inform drivers on law changes, re-evaluate their driving abilities and offer another road test to see how competent people are on the road. Making sure road rage, speeding and distracted driving is limited even more. This can also check people who are dishonest with the department of transportation on medical conditions, and potentially kill innocent people in an effort to maintain that license.

In conclusion, with millions of drivers in major cities, the rush of information from hand held devices, the impatience of society now, we need to be reminded we are driving killing machines. A text isn’t worth it. The news article isn’t worth it. What’s worth it is the re-education of people driving vehicles. These classes would benefit the entire country. Revenue built from the millions can go towards the employees to reteach the classes, roads and advertisements that “distracted driving is the new drunk driving”.