The Importance of Safe Driving

Only 62% of people with a driver’s license in the United States have taken a driver’s education course (NHTSA). The other 38% lack the proper experience, knowledge, and skill that is useful for making the highways they drive on safe for others and themselves. The driver education industry has a universal goal of educating drivers, no matter the age, for the result of safer roads. In this essay I will discuss the vitality of drivers education and how it has many elements including reducing death tolls, steps towards reducing death tolls, and my personal experience.

The group that frequents the road dangers the most are new drivers: teenagers. A study completed by the University of Nebraska over eight years found that young drivers were 24% more likely to get into a fatal, harmful accident than those who took driver’s education. It is notably more meaningful when taken in consideration that most fatal accidents for teens are around ages 16-18. By lessening this 24%, we can successfully avoid higher numbers of fatal injury and rising numbers of death tolls. A major and most central pillar of road safety is education. Teenagers are at a prime developmental period of their lives where it is best for them to learn now rather than never. Driver’s education offers a classroom environment, one where it is safe for them to make mistakes and learn major lessons. There are government programs that are imposed in public schools or private businesses that offer these courses. The presence of drivers education programs are vital to new drivers, and especially important in states that require this education prior to getting an official state license.

Unfortunately, drivers education programs are not the single-most important factor to reducing death tolls on the roads. It is a great solution, but can be better backed by other steps. Stricter seatbelt wearing laws are vital, as seat belts reduce the risk of death up to 65% (NCBI). Younger adults are much more likely to not wear seatbelts, especially when travelling shorter distances. Seat belts save lives, whether that is going 20 mph or 85 mph. Seat belt laws can be reinforced through officers and can be given very high fines, especially fines to the age groups most at risk. Alcohol education is the most vital because according to American Addiction Centers, about 53% of people feel capable of driving even after they have drunk. 32 people die every day due to drivers under the influence. Officers and the law cannot force people to not drink and drive, it is an individual’s obligation. Their responsibility is on the shoulders of the drinker. How they choose to drink away from home is up to them, especially when it comes how they will get home. People should plan ahead of time: select a designated driver, use a call-in taxi, and other methods to get home safely without putting themselves and others at risk. A heavier, more difficult process to enforce in communities across the country is a safer system made to separate pedestrians and drivers (CDC). This can be completed by engineering safer traffic systems, reducing speeds and finding ways to disperse traffic. By addressing bigger issues, like speeding, road rage, and drinking, the drivers and pedestrians can be safer.

When I was 10 years old, I got into an accident with my dad. He was driving and I was in the backseat, and we had just come from Toys R Us after buying my brother a birthday gift. We were stopped at a light when my dad glanced into the rearview mirror, seeing that the car behind us wasn’t slowing down anytime soon. He told me to hold on tight and brace myself, though I wasn’t sure what that meant or what to expect. The car smashed into the rear of our car. Luckily, the driver was going at least 20 mph by the time they slowed down, but were originally going about 40. When we pulled into the parking lot, the driver exited her vehicle. She admitted to the officer that she was texting and driving, and she was 17 but without her license on hand. My father and I had severe whiplash but no other injuries except killer headaches. It was terrifying, and I remember sobbing so hard that I couldn’t breathe (mostly out of shock and fear).

I personally have taken many steps to becoming the driver I am today. I have avoided many crashes and known what to do in specific situations that would put me or others in danger. Rather than taking driver’s education through my high school, I took it through a private program. It offered a long online course and then a few driving lessons under a supervisor. I feel that I am a better and safer driver because of that.

The amount of grief caused by deaths on the roads is innumerable. Deaths that could have been prevented were naught. Thousands of funerals are held each year in memory to those who have passed because of dangerous, careless drivers on the road..