Driver’s Education Saves Lives

Every year, tens of thousands of people are killed in motor vehicle accidents. There are a number of ways these accidents happen, but most of them have to do with a lack of understanding about the seriousness of certain safety precautions. Whether that is wearing a seatbelt, staying off your phone, not exceeding the speed limit, or even driving sober. These are all things that, when not followed, can lead to serious injuries and death in the event of an accident.

Driver’s education is extremely important in helping new drivers learn what safety measures need to be taken and why. Personally, I don’t think I got the best driver’s education because I learned everything I needed to know to get my learner’s permit from online modules. These were extremely flawed because I was able to click through the modules without reading them and search for the answers to the knowledge checks at the end of each one in order to access the rest of the online course. While this was really the only way to do it at the time since we were at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it caused me to struggle a lot when first learning to drive on real roads. A couple of my friends in high school attended in-person classes and I noticed that they got a lot more out of their driving education than I did. They seemed like well-informed drivers and people that I could trust to drive me around in case I ever needed a ride. This is why I believe it could be helpful if teens were required to attend in-person classes. It would be less convenient, but it promotes road safety a lot better than the online courses with their easy workarounds. Not only that, but the in-person curriculum promotes a more confident driver. If a person is aware of how to prevent unsafe driving, they will feel better equipped to take on a world crawling with drivers who don’t have that same knowledge.

Besides encouraging others to stop partaking in unsafe activities while driving, there isn’t a whole lot we can do. Some people might suggest incentives to people who practice safe driving but it’s difficult to keep track of good behaviors. However, there have been attempts to discourage bad behaviors. One example of this conditioning that has been done is in regard to seat belts. Many cars will make an annoying beeping sound until you’ve fastened your seat belt and that can help make sure people are being safe by being strapped in. Sometimes police officers will stop cars and do breathalyzer tests to make sure people are driving sober and that can be a reason for people not to drink while driving–they don’t want to get caught. With phone usage, Spotify–an app for playing music–has a “car mode” where you aren’t allowed to access certain features while your phone is connected to the aux in your car. This discourages phone usage while driving and could be a good model for future smartphones–one in which the phone limits certain features when it is connected through USB or Bluetooth to your car.

A lot of people advocate for raising the age teenagers are eligible to get a driver’s license to 18 instead of 16. The argument for this is that high school-aged children are often immature and take advantage of the fact that they are allowed to drive by being reckless. While these teenagers are old enough to understand how to drive, they may not be able to fully comprehend the responsibility that comes with being a driver. Some people who are against raising the age for obtaining a driver’s license argue that teenagers need to be able to drive if they want to work while in high school. Raising the age a person is eligible to get a driver’s license means that a working teenager would need to find other means to get to their workplace.

The debate is ongoing but we can focus on the little things we can do now while the age is still 16. How can we better inform future drivers during driver’s education? By putting stricter limits on how the education is administered and tested. How can we discourage unsafe behaviors that are so normalized? By including the results of these behaviors in the driver’s education curriculum and creating incentives for correct behavior. Not all of the causes for accidents are easily preventable, but the major causes are usually a result of important safety measures not being taken. If we can inform new drivers from the very start about the impact of staying safe on the road, we will see fewer deathly accidents as the new generation of drivers speeds–or drives at the speed limit–into the forefront.