Drivers Education Scholarship

The Impact of Drivers Education and how to keep drivers safe.

As a new driver it has been an exciting experience getting on the road and finally being in the driver’s seat, the wind hitting your face, the passing scenery being able to pick up friends it’s fun. But with the new found sense of freedom there is also a newfound sense of responsibility, not to just myself but to the passengers I carry and the other drivers on the road. The lack of maintaining those responsibilities can result in something horrific. Today will discuss the importance of driver’s education and drivers safety. Drivers education is indefinitely one of the most important classes in any given school. I used to think the opposite I used to think it would be a waste of a class because we wouldn’t be doing anything but talking about statistics about driving and watching a bunch of informational videos on the topic. But I was completely wrong within the first week we started driving and from there on out my driving instructor Coach Faedo made it his mission to teach us how to be competent, safe drivers. After completing the required semester of drivers ed, I not only knew traffic signals, laws, and signs, I was also taught the fundamentals of driving. Which I believe can either save or take a person’s life, drivers ed teaches teenagers from the ground up how to be safe drivers, which ultimately reduces the risk of more lives being taken to negligent driving. Additionally, drivers ed covers the most mundane to the most serious situations, mundane situations like driving with dirty mirrors to serious situations like drinking and driving or texting and driving which almost always end in fatalities. Drivers Education not only teaches you how to drive but how to maintain your safety and responsibility while enjoying your newfound sense of freedom. I mentioned earlier in the prior paragraph how distracted and drunk driving are serious situations that more often then not lead to fatality. Though drivers ed dose everything it can to combat these horrific events there is more that can be and has been done to ensure nobody experiences such a traumatic event ever, weather your the passenger or the driver. According to DMV.org “Approximately 4,300 deaths are attributed to underage drinking every year” and that number continues to rise. Additionally, with cell phones being as prevalent as ever texting and driving has become second nature to most teens. According to studies “Using a cell phone while driving, and most commonly texting, makes drivers between 2-9 times more likely to cause an accident.” To add on According to a poll conducted by the NHTSA, 94% of teen drivers acknowledge the risks of cell phone use while driving BUT 35% of teen drivers who acknowledge these risks admit to texting while driving anyway. With all these facts, numbers, charts, and graphs depicting accidents and fatalities will rise due to negligent driving what steps should be taken to reduce the number of deaths? Steps have been slowly but surely made by major brands and companies like Apple who in June 2021 introduced Driver Focus on your iPhone. Driving Focus helps you stay focused on the road. When you turn it on, text messages and other notifications are silenced or limited. When you have the Driving Focus set up, you can ask Siri to read replies to you, so you don’t have to look at your iPhone. Incoming calls are allowed only when iPhone is connected to CarPlay, a car Bluetooth system, or a hands-free accessory, though it wont completely stop teenagers from picking up there phone while driving its a step in the right direction. I believe another way to combat driver death is by making drivers ed mandatory no matter your age. I believe learning the fundamentals to driving as well as consistently becoming familiar to fatality statistics related to distracted and drunk driving will better inform younger drivers, and cause theme to become model, ideal and safe drivers. Another step I believe should be implemented in order to lower driver related deaths is police road patrol. I double down on this reason because of where I am located, in Tampa Florida here in Tampa there are a lot of long roads that unsafe drivers take to be race tracks, lack of police patrol causes reckless drivers to place other drivers in danger with little to no fear of consequences. This can all be combated with 24/7 police patrol not only will risky drivers better asses there choice to race down busy roads additionally rookie drivers will always drive with there A games because of Police Patrol. I know this procedure will take a lot of man power but man power is the exact cost of this campaign, weather we like it or not the ad’s and cute slogans don’t bother teens and unsafe drivers as much as real consequences for there actions. I believe utilizing these actions into county, state and federal law can lower the death toll accounted for by unsafe driving.Experience is the best teacher, I’ve experienced unsafe driving since I was 13. Primarily in my adolescence I grew accustom to unsafe driving garnering the belief it wasn’t unsafe it was just fun driving. I grew up with a alcoholic grandfather, though he was no harm to me or my family domestically, his driving left more to be desired. There were multiple times I could count where my grandfather was behind the wheel and knocked out cold drunk, it became such a common behavior that I adapted to it. Until one day when I was 15 and a half years old I realized continuing to enable this behavior could not only get me killed but other innocent drivers. It was a scorching Tampa day and my grandfather was picking me up from work, drunk as usual. 5 minuets into the drive he begins with the usual risky driving behaviors, swerving in and out of lanes, risky turns and questionable stops. The moment that nearly took my life was when he ran a red light at 80 miles a hour crossing a intersection with a semi truck nearly running us over, it was one of those moments where your life flashes before your eyes. After that I told my mom she has to take the keys from him until he sobered up and from then on I would never get into a moving vehicle with not just him but I refuse to get in a vehicle with any impaired driver. Though I cannot control my grandfathers actions I can control mine, the choice I made and will continue to make will not only ensure my safety but also protect others around me.

So with all this safe driving talk you as a reader may wonder what steps have I taken to implement safe driving for my self and others around me. Firstly I’ve adopted the attitude of driving slow, its never a race no matter where I need to go, especially if you plan ahead. My high school basketball coach Todd Price taught me showing up on time isn’t on time you always want to show up anywhere 15minuet’s’s early with time to spare. So by planning ahead what is the rush when I’m driving, I cant show up anywhere on time if I’m dead because of reckless driving. Additionally I don’t drink, I’ve never had a sip of alcohol and never will because why should I risk my freedom for a feeling of lethargy and sluggishness, to add on nobody in my immediate circle drinks so drunk driving is never a concern or a worry. Safe driving is a choice, its based on getting informed, knowing the risk addressing them and taking action, at the end of the day its your life, if you want to waste it to seem cool or to get somewhere quicker then that is your prerogative, but its not mine.