Drive Safe Or Don’t Drive At All

Driver education is one of the most important things to learn. With common knowledge on how to operate a car and even how to react on the road, you can save your life and even other driver’s lives. The given knowledge that you are supposed to be as far behind a car as a two average car’s length, helps the driver’s reaction time and gives them about 3-4 more seconds to react. This strategy alone can save a lot of lives and reduce preventable collisions. Driver education also teaches the importance of how to check your mirrors and blind spots whenever you want to change lanes, go around a car, etc. These blind spots are areas that the average driver cannot see in a mirror, thus resulting in the driver having to check extra action in order to safely execute their action. This information is critical to young drivers due to the lack of awareness that they possess because of their excitement to drive. I can say that most things that were taught were common sense to me but sometimes not all sense is common. Driver’s education is helpful of course but driver education set the foundation for the experience I needed while driving. There were plenty of times where I could have gotten hurt or someone else hurt if I didn’t check my blind spot or use my mirror. Experience is the real teacher in driving and drivers education teaches you how to be safe when you’re a new driver.

No matter how many laws that are enforced, people are going to want to do what they feel like doing. That involves texting, watching movies or shows, drinking, smoking, and even speeding. These are all once again avoidable things but you can control what you do all the time, every time. Some steps or guidelines to follow when driving would include, putting your phone on Do Not Disturb, not having your radio super loud, watching your speed limit, and if you need to urgently call text or look at something else then take a minute to pull over to a stop instead of continuing to drive. The most common number 1 reason that people pass away while on the road is because of distracted driving. Your phone or even your peers can hinder your focus from the road. The only difference is, you have other people’s lives in your hands. As for driving with passengers, the more passengers there are, the more likely you are to be distracted. Finally, to reduce the numbers of automobile deaths, remember that the only important thing to do is to get from point A to point B safely. Everything else can wait because it can only take about 2 seconds for things to change.

I have never experienced a serious car crash but I was in the car when my mother was driving my little brother and I home, and while I was asleep, I felt an unnatural hard bump from behind me. We all were in shock because my brother and I never experienced a force like that. As time progressed, I was able to learn that while we were driving, the person in front of us braked which of course caused a chain reaction of my mom braking. Unfortunately the person behind us was already way too close to us and due to his small window of reaction time, he hit our car and the car behind him also hit him but fled the scene. Was the stop sudden? Yes, but this again is still avoidable. Leaving your car some space behind the other car in front can be the difference between getting home safely or paying thousands of dollars in damages.

Personally I can struggle with the urges that come with not picking up your phone when the phone rings or vibrates, or getting too comfortable behind the wheel as a semi-new driver. I instead can put my phone where I can’t reach or turn it off because it will always become a distraction to me. As a passenger I try to help the driver focus by not being loud or diverting the driver’s attention, anywhere but the road. I don’t criticize their driving as they are driving (which can be called Backseat driving), and lastly if I am giving directions, I try to tell the driver where to go before they do it so they can have time to process and react to the things going on around them.