Why Safe Driving is Important to me

Driver’s education is extremely vital to reducing the number of deaths as a result of driving, as it teaches many people the specific nuances that actually come with driving, rather than knowing only the basics, which can also be forgotten fairly easily when it comes to certain specifics and can often lead to having to make somewhat sketchy decisions while behind the wheel. It is also somewhat common for people to take their permit test with the help of Google or somebody else, which leads to the knowledge that the person should have to be a qualified driver being falsified, which without driver’s education would then lead to an under qualified driver being able to drive. Even with the addition of an actual driving test, the practical skills required in the scenarios that are learned before the road test do not go as in depth as one would be able to have with driver’s education. If more drivers are able to, or required to take driver’s education before getting their license, they would have a much greater depth of knowledge when it comes to more complicated situations on the road and would be able to make better decisions, which in turn would lead to less accidents and by extension, much fewer deaths.

There are a great number of other steps that could be taken in order to reduce the amount of deaths related to driving, from many different directions. An obvious one would be more safety features in cars which would prevent actual deaths, however they are already being researched, and many times only come into play after the fact, and so wouldn’t prevent accidents at the root, instead controlling the harm that can be caused by them. One solution, however, that I feel could be very important to preventing mistakes would be requiring a driver’s education course for not only getting a license, but also for renewing one’s license, as it is very surprising that that is not already a requirement. Additionally, another step that could be taken would be to ensure a regular upkeep of road signs and foliage that goes over roads, as there have been a few instances where I have been unable to see signs and traffic signals due to trees or bushes covering them, or even being blocked by another traffic signal. The only issue with this solution would be that it would have to be implemented on a broader level, rather than allowing for drivers to prevent accidents themselves. Finally, though, another step that would be helpful in having drivers put in their own effort to prevent accidents would be to put an emphasis on learning defensive driving, or even having it as an optional course alongside driver’s education, rather than people having to seek it out on their own. Defensive driving is, in my opinion, a very good way to prevent accidents, as it firstly makes the defensive driver more cognizant of what they are doing, and will result in fewer mistakes, and therefore accidents. Additionally, it allows for accidents to be prevented on a more individual level, rather than on a broader scale, which tends to be harder to implement, as defensive driving can allow those drivers who are reckless and make mistakes to harm as few people as possible when they make serious mistakes behind the wheel.

Thanks to my driver’s education and use of defensive driving, as well as that of most of those that I spend my time with, I have not had the personal experience of being in a car accident. There definitely have been moments though, where I have witnessed friends driving irresponsibly. One such incident that comes to mind was when I and some friends were driving to another state, and on the highway, the friend that was taking his turn driving accelerated to nearly 90 miles per hour, prompting the friend whose car it was to remind the driver to not drive recklessly, and at the next available opportunity, I switched into the driver’s seat. Thankfully, due to the responsibility of many of my friends, any kind of situation of this type has been shut down in a safe and responsible way. Another situation that I have witnessed reckless driving in has been when I was in the car with my mother while younger, and while driving through an intersection, a reckless driver running a red light almost hit us, but due to my mother being a safe driver, we were able to avoid any major damage, and only our license plate was knocked off.

Some steps that I take to be a safer driver out on the road include, as previously mentioned, defensive driving, but there are a number of other steps I take to ensure that I do not make mistakes on the road. Many of these have to do with when driving conditions aren’t exactly the best, such as driving more carefully and slowly when it is nighttime or when the weather is raining or stormy, in order to give myself more time if someone is walking on the road or if I need to brake suddenly. Additionally, at times of the day when glare is very bright, I wear prescription polarized sunglasses so that the glare does not impair my driving. Finally, whenever driving in areas with denser housing or higher pedestrian traffic, I try to drive much more carefully, so that I don’t miss anybody who could be suddenly crossing a street, especially on crosswalks that may have their visibility blocked.