Inadequate Driver’s Education

In the year 2020 there were 5,250,837 car wrecks in the United States alone, 35,766 of which were fatal with another 1,593,390 causing injuries (Christy). Just two years later in 2022, there was reported to be 42,795 fatal car crashes in the US, showing how drastically driving casualties have increased in only a couple of years (Moore). How is it that our roads are not becoming steadily safer as technology advances within vehicles? How have our roads become more dangerous as time has gone on? What is the biggest cause of this, and is there anything we can do to fix it? One of the biggest causes for our deadly roads, in fact, is inadequate education for new drivers.

There are many options for those who want to earn their license, usually teens, including parents taught courses, online courses, and courses taught by schools; however, according to a survey orchestrated by The Harris Poll for Volvo Cars in July of 2019, many licensed adults voiced that they do not feel the driver’s education in the United State is adequate to prepare young driver for life behind the wheel and the dangers that come with it (Mohn). Fifty-two percent of those who participated in the survey insisted that driver’s education is drastically outdated, and forty-one percent agreed that states should require no less than fifty hours of behind the wheel practice for student drivers before they are able to take the driving test (Mohn). While fifty hours of practice seems drastic, one in four Gen Z drivers admitted that if required to retake the driving test, they do not believe they would be able to pass it again (Mohn). This proves that the driving safety and laws of the road do not hold an important place in their minds, which should be an alarming revelation for anyone who has ever been on any road. A proper driver’s education should stress safe driving practices, laws to be followed, and sufficient behind the wheel practice. The more practice one has driving, the less likely one is to get in a wreck, and this can be proved by taking note that drivers between the ages of sixteen and nineteen are more likely to be involved in a car wreck than any other age group (Teen). Just as with any activity, one can only learn and get better with time and practice, but, once again, driver’s education in the US does not enforce enough practice time for students to learn and get better. One thing we can do to reduce the number of fatal car wrecks is require more suitable and thorough driver’s education courses with more practice behind the wheel.

Another danger of insufficient education is the lack of attention to the issue of texting and driving. The National Safety Council informs us that 1.6 million car wrecks every year result from texting and driving, and, while we are aware of how dangerous driving drunk is, texting and driving is six times more likely to result in a car accident. Ninety-four percent of drivers agree that there should be ban on texting while driving to reduce the risk of fatal crashes as a result of the dangerous activity (Texting). Still, most drivers are unaware of how dangerous one peek at their phone while behind the wheel can be; in fact, replying to a text, which takes about five seconds, while driving fifty-five miles per hour is like driving the entire length of a football field with one’s eyes closed (Distracted). Surprisingly, while sixteen percent of sixteen-year-old drivers admit to texting and driving, sixty percent of eighteen-year-old drivers report that they often text while driving, showing that the older teens often believe that they have enough driving practice and are now skilled enough to take their eyes off the road to reply to a text; however, skill and experience do not lessen the dangers of texting and driving, and this fact should be more adamantly emphasized within driver’s education to aid students in fully understanding the dangers of texting while driving, knowledge which will stay with them for the remained of their lives.

As individuals, drivers can carefully follow the laws while driving and avoid texting and driving to assist in reducing the risk of fatal crashes. Drivers can also take in upon themselves to inform others of the dangers on the road so that they might also practice careful driving and thoughtfulness while behind the wheel. It is estimated that one fatal car crash happens every fifteen minutes, and while not all of us have personally been in a car accident or know anyone who has been in a fatal crash, it could just as easily be any of us (Christy). Therefore, we should work to make our country’s driver’s education more thorough and rigorous in an attempt to educate young drivers so that they can grow into safe drivers, keeping everyone on the roads as safe as possible. Who knows. Maybe one day we will all look back on the fatal car crash statistics of the year 2022 (nearly 43,000 fatal wrecks) and marvel at how far we’ve come from that. Hopefully one day our driver’s education in the US will be rigorous enough to allow us to feel safe on the roads.