Safe Driving Essay

The importance of driver education in reducing the number of deaths as a result of driving is having more skilled drivers on the road. If drivers are better educated and better equipped to drive on the road there would be less accidents and safer road conditions. Drivers can be taught how to safely drive on the roads but there are always dangers that can make them unsafe as well so additional driver education on what to do in certain circumstances is also really important. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the NHTSA there were 5,339 deaths related to young drivers in 2022 alone that were from ages 15-20. They consisted of 2,034 deaths from the young drivers themselves, 1,033 deaths were the passengers of the young drivers, 1,608 of the deaths were from occupants of other vehicles that were involved in accidents caused by young drivers and the final 664 deaths were from individuals not in a vehicle but were hit by a teen driver. I was taught in driver’s education that the number one cause of teen accidents is being distracted while driving either from things like speeding, loud music, cell phone usage, or other people in the vehicle like friends and family being a distraction which tends to be the biggest factor. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention or the CDC “about 2,800 teens in the United States ages 13-19 were killed and about 227,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes in 2020.” They also mention the point I’ve heard firsthand in driver’s education that “motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens.”

The steps that can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving are as simple as better education. Teens tend to only care about certain things and some feel like they’re invincible and things like accidents won’t happen to them so you need education that will stick in their heads. Things like having guest speakers come into high schools could be a good start or people who have had their lives drastically changed by motor vehicle accidents. Teens could be shown pictures of the vehicles involved in accidents and explained what happened to the driver to cause this like how the driver was distracted which caused them to crash. They could be shown things like this potentially by local fire departments and something I thought about was if the students could see the vehicles in person like if they were brought to the school so they could see firsthand just how bad the accidents really were. One step I also thought of was increasing the safety features in vehicles which thankfully is only getting better and I think will continue improving in the future with things like automatic braking when the vehicle senses another vehicle or object is close, cars steering back into the lane when they sense it go over the lines, and little things that are important like reminding the drivers when their seatbelt or door is open which are thankfully already in place.

I have experienced two car accidents and seen my friends and family members drive irresponsibly throughout my lifetime. One accident was ironically from a distracted teen driver that was on her phone. The accident totaled our family van and left my mom and grandmother with permanent back injuries that they still have to this day. We hit bumper to bumper traffic and the teen in the vehicle behind us was distracted and on her phone and didn’t know that we were at a complete stop. She ended up smashing into our rear end and making the tailgate come inches away from the back seats where me and my twin brother were sitting but thankfully we were both completely fine. I have also seen mainly friends but some family members drive irresponsibly and even lost a friend this year in a one person accident due to speeding and he was only 17. I’ve been in the vehicle with people that have been speeding or on their phones and sometimes even both at the same time. I’ve seen people speed extremely recklessly just for a little attention or a quick thrill which is all too common in teenagers.

The steps I can take to be a better and safer driver as well as help others become safer on the road are also very simple. When it comes to me it could be as simple as something I already do which is keep my phone away from me. I get into my car and I turn my playlist on and then I leave it alone. I’ve personally added every song so I like it all and there is no need to skip anything so my hands can stay on the wheel and I never play my music very loud because I want to keep my already bad speakers from getting worse. If I ever need to use directions I always hook my phone up to my car so there is no need to look at any maps and I don’t have any distracting screen that displays it. To help others you might be with become safer on the road you could do things like give them reminders to not speed or use their phones and even help them in the passenger seat if they need to do something like call someone you can pull up their number or maybe something like open a snack or a drink on a road trip you could just quickly help them open it, give the driver directions so they don’t have to look at anything,etc. All of the things I mentioned above are all pretty simple but you could even get more complex like refuse to drive with someone if you know they’re going to be reckless and make an offer to go but only if they’ll drive responsibly.