The Importance of Driving Safely

Driving is an especially important responsibility not everyone knows how to do. Most people learn to drive as soon as they can. This results in many inexperienced drivers or people who are learning how to drive on the road at any given time. That is one reason it is important that everyone drives safely on the road. It is also very important to properly educate yourself or others on how to drive.

To drive on the road safely you need to complete certain requirements like 20 hours on the road and take some classes. These requirements vary from state to state and even country to country. After completing these requirements, you are tested, these tests are usually done through a local DMV. Unfortunately, not everyone decides to do this, or they just simply fail to renew their licenses. According to https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/, “nineteen percent of motor vehicle fatalities involved drivers with invalid licenses.” Another startling statistic from the same website shows, “Drivers with invalid licenses comprised 13 percent of all drivers involved in fatal crashes.” These statistics demonstrate the importance of educating yourself on how to drive. Maybe these crashes could have been avoided if, everyone took the time to properly educate themselves or, simply gave themselves a refresher instead of driving without a valid license. The reason licenses expire is because the state needs to be sure you still know and obey all the laws that come with the responsibility of driving. Just because you passed once does not mean there is no reason to take the test again.

Despite all these negative statistics there are things we can do to help reduce the number of car accidents that occur. One important thing we can do is put our phones down while driving. I know everyone says this but, there is a good reason, according to NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) website, “In 2020, 3,142 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers.” Something I think is worth mentioning that is not mentioned on the website is that this was at the height of the pandemic, which means it is likely that these numbers are even higher in previous years (2018, 2019, etc.) and even more recent years (2021, 2022). Another reason we should stop looking at our phones while driving is how far we travel while we are distracted. Referring to the NHTSA website again we can see that, “Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that is like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed.” This fact is a scary one that I do not think enough people know about. Distracted driving has some serious consequences that can often be avoided if we just put the phone down.

Something I have not talked about yet is my personal experience driving. I personally consider myself to be a fairly good driver. I often drop off and pick up my brothers from school and take myself to and from work. I also occasionally drive my parents to places like the airport or to a grocery store. I have also never been in a serious car accident. Despite all of these facts I still have made mistakes while I was driving. My most recent mistake has been a very minor accident. I will not go into details, but I did end up distracting myself for a second, and accidentally tapped the car in front of me while driving home from work. There was no damage, and no one was hurt, but it just goes to show that no one is immune to making mistakes and why you should always pay attention. Even if you have not made a mistake like what I did it does not mean you won’t ever make one. Overconfidence can be a dangerous thing if left unchecked, you might get away with distracted, or drunk driving once or twice but eventually your luck will run out.

Even if you do everything right there is still always the chance that something could go wrong. Maybe someone else is ignoring road signs, or your car starts to malfunction. The truth is no matter how hard we try there will never be a perfectly safe way to drive. However, we can always take precautions like putting down your phone, not driving drunk, or giving yourself a refresher on rules of the road. It is important for you, the people in the cars around you, and your passengers that you know how to drive and feel comfortable driving.