When in Doubt Drive Defensively

Drivers are unpredictable, and the road can be a scary place. While young teenagers see it as freedom and adults scramble to go to and from work, the roads can be chaotic. There have been numerous times when I feared for my safety in the car or the nerves I experienced when friends drove. The only thing I or anyone else could do was learn to drive to their best ability to ensure the safety of everyone.

When I turned 15, all I could think about was learning how to drive. I was so eager to get behind the wheel that I did not think about anything else. Then, when my dad started to teach me and the yelling, arguing, and all the joys of parent instruction occurred, driving didn’t seem all that fun. It wasn’t until I got on the highway that my opinion of driving was fun. The speed, narrow roads, crazy drivers, and uncertainty made me feel trapped in an enclosed, dangerous box with nothing to do to escape. I could not understand why anyone wanted to drive or be in a car. The way people are so careless in a vehicle creates a death wish anytime you’re on the road. Either way, I guess I accepted that wish because I continued to learn and drive more often than I liked. Which was no easy task with control freak parents, who made me do little tests every so often about the rules of the road. Also, they made me text them when I made it to a location and when I left, like clockwork. No matter how prepared I was for the road, there were always times when a car would come at me head-on from the road leading to my house. Or, getting honked at, cars making turns not wide enough, aggressive lane changes, and I will admit times where I was not aware enough. Driving scares me so much—not so much my ability to drive but others. Others may not have been taught all the necessary rules of the road. Lives are in your hands on the road, and I think that is not taken as seriously as it should be.

While my opinions of driving may be set in stone, they could not be more different than my friend’s opinions. Freedom is everything a teenager wants, so much so that some of my friends I knew were driving by themselves before they had permits. I am sure that many teens all over the world do the same thing. Without consequences, it’s the same thing as promoting drivers without experience. It’s vitally important that parents play a key role in their children’s driver’s education, or they ensure they get instruction from professionals. Too many kids are taking risks without thinking of the consequences, which endangers not only themselves but others as well. By educating them on the dangers of driving recklessly or driving in general, we can create a safer road. Driving is a privilege, and some steps need to be taken to gain that privilege. While driving means freedom, it also means restraint. Before getting on the road, you need to learn both.

In a perfect world, everyone will take driving and safety seriously. But in our world, the best you can do is make sure that you are educated about driving. It is not worth it. Not being educated puts everyone on the road at risk. Dangerous driving is toying with the lives of people who have family, friends, pets, etc., and need to make it to their destination safely. Not to mention, when you’re driving, you can control or alter the future of your life. So my advice for anyone to limit the number of deaths as a result of driving is to learn and teach to drive defensively. In addition to not texting and driving, speeding, and being distracted, defensive driving allows you to protect yourself and limit accidents. You cannot predict what others can do on the road, but you can control yourself. That is why educating drivers on defensive driving can protect them and limit deaths on the road. If you are aware of yourself and do everything to the best of your ability on the road, you are an educated driver. We need more of those in this world because the bottom line is that education saves lives.

As exciting as driving is, and it may be necessary for 90 percent of our population, it has many risks. While some people do not take those risks seriously or consider the consequences of their actions, it is so important that we drill the rules of the road and educate everyone as though the number of deaths from cars is at an all-time high. Driving defensively is a solution; protecting yourself and others on the road can and will save lives once more and more people take driving seriously.