Drivers Ed

I myself have never been in a car accident, but I heard that my dad was in a very serious car accident back in 2008. My dad was just heading home from work, he was in horrible bumper to bumper traffic. He was trying to head home to feed his family, and see his toddler with open arms waiting at the door. As he was waiting patiently in traffic, in the corner of his eyes he saw this big truck heading straight towards him, trying to T-bone him. He wasn’t able to move because he was blocked in by cars, so the only thing he could do was watch another car seconds away from hitting him, and pray to God He would save him. After the accident, my dad was pulled out of the vehicle and hurried into an ambulance to rush him to the hospital. The other guy that crashed into him, had died on the site, he was driving intoxicated. My dad fortunately survived, but has a large scar on his forehead to this day as a reminder, however, a lot of people were not as lucky as him.

The first step we could make to reduce the number of deaths related to driving, would have to be to stop intoxicated drivers. We cannot stop intoxicated drivers, but I believe there are a few laws or regulations that could help decrease the high percentage of drunk drivers. Studies say, “In Texas, drunk driving was responsible for 39% of all traffic deaths from 2004 to 2018.”

One of the actions we could take to attack this issue, is to make bars, clubs, or places where alcohol is being served have more rules about how their customers are getting home. They should keep track of how many cups of alcohol or shots each customer is getting, and when they start to act hostile, or unstable, to cut them off completely. Another idea is to have a worker outside to see how each customer that leaves their establishment is getting home. If the customer looks unstable or off, they should make sure they have a sober driver or call a taxi to take them home.

I also believe another step to help with drunk driving would be to have harsher penalties for those caught driving under the influence. I sometimes feel we don’t take DWI and DUI seriously enough. If someone is caught driving under the influence there should be automatic jail time, license revoked, and fines. If we are harsher with punishment and educate our drivers about the laws more it would send a message of seriousness to others and possibly reduce incidents in the future.

One of the most important steps you can take to be a safe driver is by making sure to pay all of your attention to the roads, anything can happen in 5 seconds. A lot of people who have been driving for a long time, or feel comfortable with their driving then text and drive. Do not text and drive is the first rule we learn in driving class, anything can happen in a few seconds, so taking your eyes off the road is putting your life at risk. We need to take this very seriously, “At least 23% of all car accidents each year involve cell phone use – that’s 1.3 million crashes.”

There is not a text in this world that is important enough to take your eyes off the road to reply to. If the text is important, you should pull over to reply back, or just wait until you get to your destination. Doing this will not only keep you safe, but also the people around you.

Driver Education is very important when welcoming new drivers onto the roads. Driver education helps to teach students the laws and regulations for driving. It helps to keep new drivers safe while on the roads, and other drivers as well. In order to get your license, you are required to watch videos about accidents caused by driving. I believe this is an important component that was added, when the students watch these videos, they start to slowly realize how important it is to drive safely. These videos not only show how fast your life can change, but also scares the new drivers into being more careful and attentive when driving.

Nevertheless, I know there is no way to totally illuminate crashes and unsafe driving, but with more education on safe driving can help reduce the percentage of these problems. This not only pertains to newer drivers, but also older drivers who have been driving for a long time.