Name: Elijah Andrew Irving
From: Muncie, Indiana
Votes: 0
Driver Education Scholarship Essay
Driver education is an essential step in making our roads safe. Our roads are filled with a wide variety of drivers; motorcyclists, semis, trucks, cars, utility vehicles, trailers, RVs, etc. Proper driver education is vital to one’s ability to navigate roads safely for everyone. It administers an understanding of laws, signs, techniques, and awareness, which reduces the risk of accidents and injuries. Driver education is the best way to prevent serious accidents that could result in deaths. Driver education provides knowledge that most likely would not be picked up on just by life experiences. For example, certain defensive driving techniques can only be learned through driver’s education. As goes the same with certain traffic laws that can vary depending on different types of situations. Being required to yield whilst turning left on a green light is just another example of a law that is most likely only learned through driver’s education. This prevents situations where a driver would cut off another and lead to a serious accident. Even the smallest of details that can be learned from drivers education may save the life of a driver. Not turning on cruise control whilst the road is wet or not using your brights during fog are some tips that can probably only be learned in driver education. Better educated drivers leads to less deaths on the road.
Although driver education is crucial, there is only so much it can do. Because at the end of the day, the driver is the one controlling the wheel. One of the biggest complications for drivers today is distractions. Whether it be; they are tired, they are on their phones, they are fiddling with the radio, etc: there is always a reason for a driver to be distracted. In order to decrease driver deaths, we must decrease driver distractions. An obvious major distraction is texting and driving. Texting and driving is the easiest way to get distracted, especially to young drivers. Driver education listed ways to prevent texting and driving such as; turning your cell phone off, putting your cell phone in the console, or even putting the cell phone in the trunk. Newer vehicles are coming with more and more screens. Screens are a major distraction to a driver. Instead of a button where one can feel around until they find it without taking their eyes off of the road, screens provide no physical texture to them. This leads to them taking their eyes off of the road and looking at the screens, which can lead to accidents.
I have been in a few minor car accidents in my lifetime. When I was little I was sleeping in the backseat when a deer jumped in front of my moms car. It was late at night so she did not have a chance to react. Luckily the airbags were not deployed, but her car was almost totaled. Now I cannot sleep in cars because I was jolted awake by the impact of the collision. Another accident occurred when my dad was towing a trailer behind his Jeep. He pulled into a gas station forgetting he was towing a trailer. Not leaving enough room for the trailer, he hit the back of a truck with the wheel well of the trailer. It caused minor damage to the truck, and no damage to the trailer. Other than those two incidents, I have not been involved in any others. Unfortunately my parents are text and drivers. For the most part they are as safe as they can be while texting and driving, but sometimes I get nervous. Luckily I have noticed a decline in their actions.
I think in order to be a safer driver for me and those around me, I must be alert at full capacity at all times. I think it is important to limit the amount of distractions to the best of my ability, because some things I just cannot control. Following all of the tips I learned from driver education is step one in being a safe driver. Also, being a defensive driver is the reason I have not gotten into an accident yet. I always check blind spots when I am turning. Checking my mirror when coming up on a red light to make sure there is no one about to rear-end me is a little detail I learned from driver education. Whenever I get the chance to tell someone a tip they may not know, I will explain it to them. Even though I may seem like a know-it-all, and that I am criticizing their driving skills, I am simply trying to allow them to be more safe.
